February’s members gallery will feature Jan Ponder with Prints and Judy McGuire with Digital.

Members gallery will be immediately followed by February’s Forum presentation.

Jan Ponder’s – Photoencaustics

Jan Ponder has been a member of NVPS for almost 8 years. Taking part in competitions, fieldtrips, exhibits and portfolio projects. Photography has brought a creative balance to her life . Taking images of nature and using the lens baby and infrared to make things more artistic. Having never been in a dark room she is now expanding her photography with encaustics.

The word encaustics means to burn. It is an ancient art of painting with hot wax. This technique was used in the Fayum mummy portraits in Egypt from around 100-300AD.

Jan’s method for using encaustics with photography is to print the photo on canvas, Japanese rice papers or other absorbent grounds. Adhere the image to a firm substrate such as birch plywood and paint on layers of wax (combination of bees wax and damar resin) to add texture and give it a luminous appearance, sometimes incorporating tinted waxes and colored paint sticks. Trees are one of her favorite subjects. A competent exhaust system is a must for this type of art.
She has taken encaustic workshops in Santa Fe, two in New York and the Torpedo Factory. She also attended the Encaustic Conference in Provincetown MA. In the past year she has shown her work at the Torpedo factory exhibits and Bin Room, Art in City Hall and Gallery West. To check out her work go to her web site. www.janponderphotography.com

Judy McGuire – Digital

Judy became interested in photography and travel when she was 10 and took her first road trip to the western states with her family and her Kodak Brownie camera. She took snapshots documenting family, travels and pets for many years before getting a Nikon SLR for slide photography. In 2007, she switched to digital and now shoots with a Nikon 7000.

Judy is most interested in travel and nature photography and loves to photograph anywhere, searching out back roads as well as obvious sites. She enjoys giving slide shows for various groups and makes calendars and note cards with her photographs. Her work has been juried into Nature Visions and the Joseph Miller Abstract Exhibit, and has been published in Virginia Wildlife Magazine.

In 2001, Judy saw Luella Murri on one of the first Photographers of Northern Virginia programs. She phoned Luella after the show for NVPS information and became a member shortly afterwards. Since then, Judy has enjoyed learning about all aspects of photography from the club’s activities.

Judy’s show will feature photos of varied subjects taken within the last two years. A number of locations will be spotlighted, many of them in our general area.