Alaina Enslen

In these paintings, comprised of repurposed fabric and beeswax, I’m exploring the emotive properties of cloth as experience, tradition, and memory. I piece together cherished worn heirlooms, discarded clothes, religious garments, and linens from production factories. These repurposed fabrics are then gently fused with encaustic medium as I explore colors, forms, and lines through a patchwork of canvas. Now it is a map of my own making, flattened, frayed, and immersed in beeswax.

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Alaina Enslen is a mixed media artist residing in Cornwall-On-Hudson, New York, a small village in the Hudson Valley. Having lived in many states across the US as well as in Japan, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, and England, her experiences with diverse cultures, identities, and beliefs throughout her life have deeply influenced her work. Her paintings, encaustics, and collages draw from materials collected from her subjects, memorabilia, fabric, and objects from the environment. Over the last twenty years, her art has been shown internationally and nationally, including an exhibition in 2017 at the Caleidoscópio (University of Lisbon). Her work is part of the permanent collections at the West Point Museum and the Paul W. Bryant Museum. Over the last twenty years, she has received a number of grants and awards including a nomination for Best Temporary Exhibition 2016 from the Portuguese Museological Association for “Bird-watching” (Museu da Ciência, University of Coimbra, 2016) and a Luso-American Development Foundation travel grant for FOLIO 2016. Her most recent series, Remnants, employs encaustic and fabric in bold designs to convey the emotive properties of cloth as experience and memory.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

2022

With Wax: Materiality & Mixed Media in Encaustic, Chester County Art Association, West Chester, Pennsylvania

Small Works, Woodstock Artist Association & Museum, Woodstock, New York

2021

New Work, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York

Far & Wide, Woodstock Artist Association & Museum, Woodstock, New York

2020

Stay Home, Make Art, Virtual Exhibition, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz, New York

Remnants, River Wind Gallery, Beacon, New York

2018

Winter Art Show, Green Light Gallery, Cornwall-On-Hudson, New York

2017

Bird Watching, University of Lisbon, Caleidoscópio, Portugal

Pop Up Art Exhibition, Orange Alert III: Espiritu, Newburgh, New York

2016

Bird Watching, Folio Festival, Obidos, Portugal

Bird Watching, University of Coimbra’s Science Museum, Coimbra, Portugal

2015

Hudson Valley in Encaustic, Green Light Gallery, Cornwall-On-Hudson, New York

2013

Alaina Enslen: New Work, Hudson Street Cafe, Cornwall-On-Hudson, New York

2012

December Art Show, Brazilian Endowment for the Arts, NYC

2010

26th Annual Elmore County Art Guild Winter Show, Wetumpka, Alabama (First Place in Photography and Purchase Award for First Community Bank)

2008

Landscapes in Transitions, Aurum Studios, Athens, Georgia

Full House, Lyndon House Art Center, Athens, Georgia

2004

Alabama State Fair Exhibition, Montgomery, Alabama (Honorable Mention)

2003

Group Exhibition, Clayton Street Gallery, Athens, Georgia

2001

West Alabama Art Association Juried Show, Tuscaloosa, Alabama (First Place in Genre, Second Place in Portraits, and Their Place in Portraits)

2000

The Fifth Nightengale Biennial Exhibition, Montgomery, Alabama (honorable Mention)

Recent Works by Alaina Enslen, Kentucky Museum of Art, Northport, Alabama

West Alabama Art Association Juried Exhibition, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

1999

33rd Montgomery Art Guild Exhibition, Montgomery Museum, Montgomery, Alabama