Upon entering the spacious 19th century factory building in Kingston- home to R & F Handmade Paints since 2006- a visitor is struck immediately by the vivid scope of their handmade paints and also the camaraderie of painters that produce them. It is a physical locale that seems to embody every element of the creative process- that could easily inspire a layman to experiment with color.
Now it would be impossible to speak about R & F Handmade Paints without discussing its role in the history of encaustic painting. The word resurgence would not be an understatement, and to call founder Richard Frumess a firestarter of the medium would be totally appropriate, particularly since the Greek origin of the word encaustic translates- ‘to burn in’.
“I’m the person who pressed the start button,” admitted Frumess when asked about his role. “I provide the technical basis and a lot of research and design. A lot of it is extraordinarily tedious work.”
Encaustic paint is derived from pigmented beeswax and resin, and is worked through the use of heat. The wax-based method necessitates a degree of training. Unlike other paint mediums, for encaustic, one needs a heated surface, a rigid support to paint on, and a secondary heat source, be it a heat gun or torch.
Encaustic painting developed from the ancient Greeks, “where wax had this wonderful skin like quality and luster,” said Frumess. “Encaustic can have this very glowing character to it that is very lifelike.”
Though a two dimensional form, the encaustic process can be built up into three dimensions, and as such, has often been integrated into other art forms. “It’s a negotiator between other mediums,” said Frumess. “It can be used in sculpture, printmaking, paper making and bookmaking.”
“It’s seductive, when you start the heating and the cooling,” said Darin Seim, the general manager at R & F since 1996. “It’s a different process then any other creative process. Nothing is gained or lost. People who are into materials, who are painters but work more sculpturally, they fall in love with it. You can work with it opaque, you can work with it transparent, and get a great luminosity, polish it where it’s just like enamel. It’s really versatile,” said Seim.
Once the encaustic has cooled in it’s final state, twenty years down the road, by applying heat, an artist can re-work the piece. “So it is both final and never totally finished,” said Frumess.
R & F has been based in Kingston since 1995, and since 2006, housed in its present location. The industrial space was designed explicitly with every avenue in mind, from production to exhibition- housing its store, offices, production facility, gallery and workshop space. Having recently celebrated its 24th anniversary, R & F Handmade Paints now boasts thirteen full timers, all artists in their own right.
“The building of the company was something so esoteric,” claimed Frumess.
The story begins in Kensington, Brooklyn in which Richard Frumess concocted his first encaustic paints. On the name of the company, Frumess mused-“The initials are mine. I wanted to sound like two people instead of one when I was in my basement in Brooklyn.”
Requested by his New York City gallery to paint in encaustic in 1981, Frumess shopped at the only art store in the city that carried such an item. What he discovered was a dwindling supply of materials that had not been produced since the sixties. Commercial production of encaustic paint goes back to the forties, but aside from some batches created in Berlin, at the time of Frumess’ interest, it was mostly a forgotten art. Frumess’ fascination with the medium led him to work as an encaustic expert at the art store, producing small batches of encaustic paints in his studio.
“I was their encaustic expert, because on a scale of 1-10, I knew 1 and they knew 0,” said Frumess with a laugh.
When the store closed in 1987, he continued the tradition on his own terms.
“The area I had as my factory was twice as wide as this table,” reminisced Frummes. “I’d take all the ingredients home in bags, melt them in my oven and pour the paint into cupcake molds.
His exuberance took hold, his methods evolved, and his business took shape. By the end of the first year, R & F Paints were carried in two stores in New York City, a store in Denver, one in Santa Fe and a store in Paris. From there, the growth has been exponential. Now, with a distributor in England and Australia, the world beckons for the colors R & F molds by hand.
“I love process,” said Frumess. “Given the choice between simple and complicated, I will always think that complicated is the better way.”
The result of his obsession?
“Our angle is the level of care and effort we put into it, more then anything,” said Seim. “It’s really the complexity of our mixes that makes us unique.”
Added Frumess- “You get undertones and top-tones that you wouldn’t get from a straight pigment.”
In 1989, Frummes was encouraged to delve into oil sticks, a challenge which he took to heart. The result, R & F Pigment Sticks, begin with a linseed oil base. “Towards the end, there’s a little twist where the paint is warmed and we add a small amount of natural wax,” explained Seim. The paint is then poured into molds. “It’s like lipstick soft, as soon as you apply pressure, the wax just disappears in the oil,” said Seim.
Actively tweaking colors until their vibrant finale – the colors range from traditional fare to completely original offerings. Having just added five new colors to their catalog, R & F now offers 84 varieties in encaustic and 92 in pigment sticks.
“In the world of encaustic paint, we’re probably the biggest,” said Seim. “In the world of oil sticks, we’re easily the smallest.”
It is a truly a boutique operation. Every batch of handmade paint yields on a daily basis, between 150-300 sticks.
Sharing the knowledge he had fought so hard to learn, Frumess started teaching encaustic workshops in 1995, first at the Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosendale, NY. The message spread. Now there are satellite studios and workshop series across the country. Permanent workshops series are now firmly established in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City.
“The gallery and the workshop program are the arms at R & F,” said Laura Moriarty, the Gallery and Workshop Director since 1998. “They run from the heart, basically. This is what we do to support the artists who have kept us in business.”
Offering intensive workshops throughout the year at R & F has been a vital component to the mission. The teaching staff are now local and national artists- all sharing their particular specialties in encaustic and pigment sticks. “What we have here is a play room for creative adults,” said Moriarty. “The students come in and hunker down.”
The comprehensive encaustic class runs for five days- with spots for a dozen students. Every third Saturday, R & F offers a mini workshop for prospective encaustic painters to experiment before diving headlong into the process. The teachers are particularly conscientious about working the medium in a healthy way-which translates to “proper ventilation and not burning the studio down,” said Moriarty.
In a truly organic fashion, many of those being taught at R & F go on to become teachers of the process themselves.
“It is this proliferation of artists interested in encaustic that coalesces into networks,” said Frumess.
And the networks are growing. Now there is an international encaustic conference that happens every year.
“This is a medium that lends itself well to social media,” said Moriarty. “There is a lot of sharing going on. It’s not like a bunch of sequestered artists working on their own.”
The Gallery at R & F showcases local, regional and international artists on a bi-monthly basis- all “who are onto something,” said Moriarty. “It’s such a sweet little space in here,” she added. “It’s small but it’s generous, because there are six walls that naturally lend themselves to installations.”
As gallery director, Moriarty is on the lookout for “work that distinguishes itself from everybody else- work that has a message. Art that is a little quirky, unusual, and challenges your assumptions,” she said.
Said Frumess on the community that churns out an expanding version of his original vision- “With encaustic, it’s been slowly built up, brick by brick, person by person. We’re part of them, and they’re part of us. And that’s the relationship that really feeds us.”