‘It’s still the same old story’

“Love and War” (encaustic, rusted paper, old letter, graphite and ink), by Pembroke, Mass.- based artist and honey-product producer Stephanie Roberts-Camello.

The North River, which flows through the Pembroke area.

— Photo by John Phelan

Great Sandy Bottom Pond, in Pembroke.

She writes:

“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 i 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. I come from a family of cattlemen and farmers who were dependent on the weather for their survival. Loss of crops due to droughts and tough conditions in raising cattle are common themes coupled with money problems. These problems are not mine, but I couldn't help relate them to obstacles and set backs that we all have.

“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. Layers of wax literally cover up the past. I peel them back to reveal a portion of what once was. Revealed, exhumed, manipulated, up-ended, exposed-all of these actions give me a sense of freedom, and the ability to step outside myself. Seemingly destructive to the surface, the peeling plays a positive role in removing a build up and seeing what has been lying dormant. It holds a stratum of time much like the earths core. The depth created working this way is jarring to me, confrontational, alluring and frightening.There is risk involved, but the presence of this relief work conveys a sense of resilience and life which keeps me returning. It speaks with a boldness and beauty that is also fragile. This opposition between image/content and material is the catalyst for the development of my encaustic relief series. This work continues to evolve as I find new ways to shed light on the past that enlightens and informs the future.’’

The story beneath

Work by Stephanie Roberts-Camello (encaustic relief over book pages and casein)

She writes:

“Layers of wax literally cover up the past. Revealed, exhumed, manipulated, up-ended, exposed, all of these actions give me a sense of freedom, and the ability to step outside myself. Seemingly destructive to the surface, the peeling plays a positive roll in removing a build up and seeing what has been lying dormant. The depth created working this way is jarring to me, confrontational, alluring and frightening. There is risk involved, but the presence of this relief work conveys a sense of resilience and life which keeps me returning. It speaks with a boldness and beauty which is also fragile. This opposition between image/content and material is the catalyst for the development of my encaustic relief series. This work continues to evolve as I find new ways to shed light on subjects I want to confront.’’

Quaker meeting house in Pembroke. Southeastern Massachusetts was an early center for Quakers in America.

The artist, a member of New England Wax (newenglandwax.com) lives in Pembroke, Mass., where she and her husband have a business called Queen Bee Honey.

The geography of the once rural, agricultural and fishing town Pembroke, now a Boston suburb, is dominated in the northern part by streams flowing through woods that once provided the lumber for the North River's shipbuilding industry. These streams are famous for their fish runs, including of herring, blue fish and striped bass.

The southern half is dominated by several ponds and Silver Lake, where the towns of Pembroke, Kingston, Plympton and Halifax meet.

Early industries also included smelting bog iron and cutting and selling ice from the town’s many bodies of fresh water.

From Marshfield, looking across the North River toward Pembroke. It’s a fine fishing area.