Threadbare Painting

Linda Frueh is a contemporary encaustic artist living in San Diego, CA. Building layers upon layers of molten beeswax, pigment and damar resin, she creates works with rich surface textures and subtle palettes. Her art has been described as serene, sensual, and even edible. She was recently awarded a 2016 Emerging Artist Grant from the International Encaustic Artists and has been selected as one of 50 Contemporary Artists to Watch in the San Diego area. Frueh’s most recent work includes a series of fabric vessels enrobed in encaustic, giving strength to otherwise soft and yielding materials. Her work leans toward the sculptural, following her training as a metalsmith and glass sculptor at the California College of Arts and Crafts. It is is generally abstract with spare compositions allowing color and texture to convey emotion. The abstract expressionists Robert Motherwell and Mark Rothko and pastel artist Wolf Kahn have heavily influenced her, as have the enameled copper vessels of June Schwarcz. Born in New York, Frueh pursued a career in technology before turning her attention fully to art. Her early work in enameled silver was featured in galleries and juried art shows. After a hiatus of several years to raise her children, she began to work in encaustic and hasn’t looked back.