MARK REDISKE received his MFA in painting from St. Cloud State University in 1985. He has held various academic positions for the past 30 years, teaching encaustics, pastels and design. His exhibition schedule is extensive, and he is featured in many public and corporate collections.

REDISKE is a native of Minnesota transplanted to Seattle. The jump from zone 4 to zone 8 has created an extreme gardener of REDISKE.

As his garden matures he discovers more and more solace in the transient beauty of that nurtured domain. Affected by the changing seasons and passing years, this ever-evolving space inspires REDISKE with its mysticism and renewal.

For the past few years REDISKE has been working exclusively with encaustics. He is intrigued by the versatile and malleable properties of this ancient medium, and admires the myriad of ways lustrous and uniquely beautiful surfaces can be achieved with this wax-based paint. In addition, and important to his work, REDISKE explores the process of applying the molten paint in either a transparent or opaque manner, which facilitates him in isolating individual layers.

REDISKE’S work of late represents somewhat of a departure in terms of the sensibility and handling of encaustic. The current works are more about gesture and concerned with exploiting the physical properties of molten wax. He has been working these recent images with an increasing amount of scraping and incising into the painting surface. Suspended in time as they cool and harden, he finds a peaceful beauty in the drips and splatters of the molten paint.

In addition, REDISKE draws inspiration from ancient cultures. These cultures espoused the belief that nature has both a physical presence and a spiritual identity. The iconography and tenor in his work reflects a desire to access some element of this greater realm.