Leah Cross

About the Artist

I am a mixed media artist and are teacher currently working in encaustic collage. Incorporating found and natural materials I create dream-like landscapes of color and texture inspired by the cycles of life. These works reflect the intrinsic grace of the natural world while posing questions about our place within it. I reference both the strength and fragility of the environment and its inhabitants; while some pieces address my concerns about human impacts and climate change, others are a more personal reverie or contemplation.

I use an earthy palette, found objects, re-purposed magazine scraps, and sewn and cut paper to balance both realistic and fantastical elements. I'm drawn to the natural beauty and richness of the surface that the bee's wax creates in the encaustic medium. The physical process of melting, layering, and embedding objects and images into a seemingly static, but changeable state, evokes the cycles that are the central themes of my work.