Prints

Becoming a Printmaker Through Wax

I became a printmaker through curiosity and experimentation with wax. As an encaustic painter, I began wondering what would happen if, instead of simply painting with wax, I could print from its surface. I started building collagraph plates with wax—carving, incising, stamping, embedding, and creating textures—and discovered that these surfaces could hold and transfer an extraordinary range of marks.

That discovery opened an entirely new direction in my studio practice. Using soy- and honey-based Akua inks, I developed ways of inking and printing these wax collagraph plates, bringing together two processes I love: painting and printmaking. The wax became more than a painting medium; it became a matrix from which an image could be pulled, repeated, altered, layered, and pushed in unexpected directions.

Over time, I refined the process and began hand-formulating my own Print Wax, designed specifically for creating wax collagraph plates. What began as a personal studio experiment has grown into a process I now teach internationally. Print Wax is sold online and internationally, allowing other artists and printmakers to explore the possibilities of printing from wax and to take the process in directions I could never have imagined.

For me, becoming a printmaker didn’t happen by following a traditional path. It happened through invention—by asking what else wax could do, and then following that question wherever it led.

Cloudburst Print 2

Underworlds 1

Remnant Study 1

Complexity 1

Cloud Study 1

Cartography Study 2

Terra Warming

Cross Tides

Global Retreat 2

Surges

Astral Terrains 1

Total Eclipse 4

Total Eclipse 3

"Wonder Lands" serves as my love letter to the Pacific Wonderland that has shaped my artistic journey for decades. Through vibrant colors and intricate details, I hope to give a glimpse of the vivid beauty and natural marvels that grace Oregon's diverse geologies and landscapes—a place I am blessed to call home. Astoria, with its many vantage points, horizon lines and colors on display every day, is my eternal source of inspiration

Creating these pieces was a meditative experience, where I immersed myself in the creative process and worked on multiple artworks simultaneously. Landscapes within landscapes, the process of making "Wonder Lands" drew me closer to the heart of nature and the beauty all around us.

Above the Bar

Eagle Constellation

Second Saturn Return

Undertow

Cloudburst Print 2

Calving 1

Sigma Self Energy 11

Sun Forest

Cartography Study 1

Terra Print 1

Tipping Points 2022

Orbital Sequence 1

Familiar Elements 2025

Frequencies 1

Carbon Footprint

Astral Terrains 5

Slack Tide

Marking Time 2022

Marking Time 2

Mercurial Tide

Plane View 3

Finding Buoyancy 5

Cloud Burst Print 4

Autumn Shift

Sigma Self Energy 10

Return to Autumn

Earth Abstraction 1

Plane View 3

Meridian Study 1

Periodic Life Table 1

Astral Terrains 3

Frequencies 2

Bridging Tides

Fleeting Moment 3

Marking Time 5

Zenith Meridian

Finding Buoyancy Study 2

Finding Buoyancy 1

Lunar Constellation

Sneaker Wave 1

Made in Mexico, 2022

Tipping Points showcases the artistic perspective on the science of our changing planet, and convergence of opposites both in nature and in humanity. This exhibition brings together works that span the pandemic and prior. Its title "Tipping Points" serves as a metaphor referring to the many changes taking place in technology, science, human identity and our changing relationships .

Each piece in this exhibition represent years in which significant tipping points were being reached through new discoveries in technology, drone and satellite photography, climate change and contemporary science. Such advancements gave us the ability to see glaciers on Pluto which was the inspiration for both my Opposing Cartography and Pluto Atlas Series.

Equally, Tipping Points refers to the cultural tipping points being reached in our midst. Tipping points in civil rights, freedoms, racial justice, identity, loss and conflict.

On a personal note, this exhibition represents tipping points in my own life through the loss of my father, my beloved dog Cleo and several friends. The exhibition is dedicated to my father Charlie Wagner.

fasdfsGlacial Meridian

Glacier Stream II

Frequencies 4

Arriving

Forces at Play

Star Trails

Finding Buoyancy 4

Orbital Sequence 2

Global Retreat 1

Frequencies 3

Below the Bar

Landfall

Sneaker Wave 2

Fleeting Moment 2

Marking Time 4

Terra Europa

Plane View 1

Finding Buoyancy 2

Remnant Topography 8

Terra Sky

Pathway 1

Memory Wave

Collision Coalescence Study 2

Plane View 2

Orbital Sequence 3

Willamette

Illusive 1

Total Eclipse

Dark Energy

Marking Time 3

Mined Earth Study 8

Plane View 1

Astral Legend

Polar Meridian

Farewell to Venice

The King Tides 1

Fleeting Moment 4

Marking Time 6

Finding Buoyancy Study 3

Buoyancy Legend

Illusive 2

Terra Warming 2

Ice Storm 3 - Made in Mexico

Cartography Study 3

Collision Transit Study 1

Two Artists, One Medium, a Coast-to-Coast Dialogue.

Elise Wagner (West Coast) and Marybeth Rothman (East Coast) come together at Frederick Holmes & Company Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Familiar Elements: Visible and Invisible, a two-person exhibition exploring the dualities of abstraction and representation through the luminous possibilities of the ancient medium of encaustic—pigmented beeswax. Their work creates a dialogue that transcends individual styles, inviting viewers to consider the nuances of visibility and invisibility in art and life. Both artists have been represented by the gallery for over a decade.

Wagner unveils Invisible Frequencies, a series that delves into the realms of the intangible, capturing fleeting moments and emotions through rich textures and layered colors. Her abstract pieces invite viewers to engage with the unseen, evoking a sense of mystery and introspection.

Astral Terrains 4

Astral Terrains 2

Wonder Lands 2024

Each piece began with a textured foundation, as echoes of nature's many forms. Through an air-trapping technique that captures, in a moment, the fleeting textures of molten wax, I am able to mimic the topographic contours of mountain peaks, winding rivers, rugged coastlines, and the ephemeral dance of clouds and light. The added interplay of oil paint over the luminescent layers of wax reveals depth upon depth. By coaxing out what I see within each of these unique surfaces and accentuating those aspects, hidden canyons, soaring cliffs, and the eternal presence of water are revealed.

My ultimate desire is for you to wander these intricate environments, to see the natural world around us and feel the wonder each creates within you.

Corona Borealis

New Horizon

Underworlds 2

Guanajuato Love 3

Orbital Sequence 4

Zenith Meridian

Tributary Meridian

Departure

Pacific Rim

The King Tides 2

Science and technology have made it so that we can see the world and beyond from entirely new perspectives. As a visual artist, this is the greatest platform from which to observe, interpret and respond to our world. My work marks time from keen observations and the constant tracking of technological progress, climate change and the rapid advancement of scientific discovery.

The works in Marking Time reflect the speed in which progress is being made in our contemporary world while taking a pause to notice the evident impact that humans have on our ever changing environment. This paradox from the fusing of two age old and analog mediums; printmaking and encaustic in these works comes together to mark our present time while also harkening to nostalgia for the past.

Astral Legend

Fleeting Moment

Marking Time 3

Peak

Finding Buoyancy 2026

Marking Time 1

Marking Time 9

From the window of my studio on the Columbia River, I watch the ever-changing movement of water, vessels, birds, and buoys. These floating markers —small, bright points within the vastness of the river—have become a recurring presence in my work and a metaphor for finding balance amid constant change.

Over the past five years, buoyancy has become more than a metaphor for me; it has become a way of moving through life. Beginning with the loss of my father in 2021, followed by my move from Portland to Astoria and into a studio hovering over the river, my life entered a period of profound transition. In the past year, I lost both my mother and my sister. Yet these years have also brought extraordinary joy. I found love, became engaged, and now stand on the threshold of marriage and my 60th birthday. Grief and love, endings and beginnings, have existed alongside one another. Finding Buoyancy grew from these experiences and from the question of how we remain open to life when the currents beneath us continually change

Finding Buoyancy explores the tension between weight and weightlessness, depth and surface, movement and stillness. Through encaustic painting and wax collagraph printmaking, I build layered surfaces that echo the shifting currents of water, geological formations, atmospheric patterns, and the passage of time. The process itself is an act of discovery. Wax can be carved, brushed, embedded, scraped, printed, and transformed. Layers accumulate and obscure, then reveal traces of what came before. I am interested in this interplay between control and chance—how a surface can hold both evidence of human gesture and the unpredictable forces of nature.

Throughout the work, runes, astronomical symbols, fixed stars, and recurring symbols of buoyancy offer another form of navigation. They become markers of strength, awakening, faith, transformation, and direction—points of orientation within continually shifting terrain.

For me, finding buoyancy means staying present and open to change while seeking balance within the currents that carry us. These works are not maps toward a fixed destination, but records of navigating uncertainty—carrying the weight and beauty of what came before while remaining open to love, transformation, and beginning again.