“I grew up in Seattle and Cleveland, the daughter of an art museum director in a family of 6. My education included a degree in English from Smith College, and a Masters in Elementary Education from Bank Street College of Education. I taught young children in public schools for almost 40 years and I’ve been painting since 1998, when I began classes at the ArtsCenter in Carrboro and Penland School of Craft in the NC mountains. I now paint full time in my home studio in Carrboro, NC. My husband Steve and I have 4 grown children and step-children and a growing number of grandchildren.
“My paintings start from an idea, a feeling, a color, a song, an experience in nature — anything that touches my heart. After many layers of color and texture have been built up and scraped back, after I paint freely and then struggle, I put the painting away and then work on it some more. It finally emerges as something that expresses what I see and feel. I hope my paintings connect with that luminous, mysterious inner space inside all of us.
“I find that both oil and cold wax, and encaustic hot wax, allow me to explore this process deeply. I divide my time between the two mediums and find they inform each other.
With both, I build up and scrape back using brush, palette knife, solvents, pottery tools and materials for making texture.
“I am inspired by my early years in the Pacific Northwest, my life in North Carolina with its beaches and mountains, by hiking, gardening, yoga, people and reading. Many roles through the years as daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, and friend inform my work. Being an elementary school teacher for almost 40 years has helped me appreciate the time I now have to explore painting. I have looked closely at the work of other painters for many years and it has influenced me as much as anything else.
“The following quotes about painting resonate with me:
What we want to do is to make something that utterly fills the sight. -Sam Francis
The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through -Jackson Pollock”
Peg has generously donated an original encaustic work to The ArtsCenter’s Silent Auction, on display throughout the month of June in the Nicholson Gallery. To place a bid for this artwork, visit our box office or call us at (919) 929-2787. Bids starting at $150 will be accepted until 5PM on June 28th.
Learn more about Peg and her work at
www.pegbachenheimer.com
pegbach@me.com
919-933-3839
Studio visits by appointment