'Encaustic shrouds' in Cambridge

Encaustic painting by Stephanie Roberts-Camello, in her show “Many Miles,’’ Sept. 30-Oct. 8 at Maud Morgan Arts Chandler Gallery, Cambridge, Mass.

She says: “Discovering a box of old family letters in my family's basement would change the way I painted and how I thought about my work. There were stacks of letters bound in twine according to who sent them. They dated back as far as 1919 through 1946. Many of these letters reference the dust bowl days of Texas and the Great Depression.

”Encaustic is a medium that can be worked flat or sculpturally. One of its many attributes is it can retain any stress mark or scrape once it cools. It has an innate feature for documentation. These letters; represent a period of suffering, loss and endurance in our country, and for me, the intricately worked encaustic shrouds became metaphors for struggle and change.’’