About Trudie

meet Trudie

Creating is my joy. It fills my soul and alters the lens, allowing me to see things in a different way. I touch, I see, I imagine and then my soul wants to explore ways to express my response to the elements that move me. My work is all about process: the action of slowly adding thin layers of melted wax and pigment to cradled wood panels, slate, and tin. I love the physicality of the process and my creations are not as much “painted” as they are built. It is about the layers, the flow, and the strata of things substantive, imagined, physical, and implicit. 

I work by building layers of wax, mixed media, found objects, and color that make up the whole of a work. Fusing each layer with a butane torch, I then return to explore, excavate, expose, and obscure. The result is a non-literal visual form, a translation of that experience and process. My aim is to draw the viewer into my world and evoke a powerful emotional response. 

I vividly remember visiting my grandmother’s house as a young child and being fascinated with the contents of the drawers and cabinets in all the rooms of the house. There were new things, old things, and fragments of objects tossed into the drawers. I remember taking each item out, one by one, and thoroughly examining it. To this day, I enjoy trying to figure out the purpose and history of an object. The curiosity I developed as a child exploring my grandmother’s house now plays a significant role in my art.

I have an attachment to old, damaged, forgotten, and discarded items. I call them my “treasures.” In my assemblages, these found objects are combined with encaustic and other elements to become a cohesive whole. The objects themselves serve different purposes. Sometimes it is the functionality, the shape, color, or texture that drives the composition. The assemblage process is a quest for me to find a way to bring these pieces together in a way that tells a new story. 

  • Exhibitions

    Works in Wax: Women Artists, Susquehanna Art Museum, May 15th-September 1st 2024, Group exhibition

    Cur Non Exhibit, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA, June 10th-August 12th, 2023, Group exhibition

    2022 Artistic Independence, Las Laguna Art Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA, October 6th-29th 2022, Online exhibition

    Metamorphosis, Tubac Center of the Arts, Tubac, AZ, October 1st-November 14th, 2021, Group exhibition

    Textures, Forms, Patterns or Shapes Exhibit, Las Laguna Art Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA, August 5th- 28th, 2021, Online exhibition 

    Louisiana Artists Exhibit, Louisiana State Archives, Baton Rouge, LA, June 5th-July 29th, 2021, Group exhibition

    Quarantine 2020 Exhibit, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA, November 14th- December 30th, 2020, Group exhibition

    Elemental: Earth, Fire, Water, Air Exhibit, Maryland Federation of Art, Annapolis, MD, October 15th – November 30th, 2020, Online exhibition.

    Strokes of Genius Exhibit, Maryland Federation of Art, Annapolis, MD, October 30th-November 267h, 2020, Group exhibition

    Six Feet of Separation, Maryland Federation of Art, Annapolis, MD, National Juried Online Exhibition, May 25th-July 22nd, 2020, Group exhibition of fine art.

    Global Warming is Real Exhibition, National Juried Exhibition, Encaustic Art Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, June 25th - July 25th, 2020, Online Group Encaustic exhibition of fine art.

    2020 MMXX: Beginnings, What Will Your 20’s Look Like? National Encaustic/Wax Juried Exhibition, Encaustic Art Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 25th-June 25th, 2020, Online Group Encaustic exhibition of fine art.

    Conduit, Frisco Art Gallery, Frisco, TX, July 30th-September 7th, 2019, Group exhibition of fine art.

    Frozen Gesture Exhibit, M. David & Co., Brooklyn, NY, July 27th, 2019, Group exhibition of fine art.

    Spring Member Show, Maryland Federation of Art, Annapolis, MD, May 2nd-May 25th, 2019, Group exhibition of fine art.

    Spring Fling Exhibit, Envision Arts, Dallas/Fort Worth, TX, April 5th-May 4th, 2019, Online Group exhibition of fine art.

    Unbound Exhibit, Poupart’s Bistro, Lafayette, LA, January 9th- March 6th, 2019, Solo exhibition of Encaustic fine art

    Acadiana Open Studio Exhibit, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA, November 9th-December 22nd, Group exhibition

    Strokes of Genius Exhibit, Maryland Federation of Art, Annapolis, MD, November 2nd-November 26th, 2018, Group exhibition

    Eye of the Beholder 32nd, Annual Open Competition, Lafayette Art Association, Lafayette, LA, August 8th-October 4th, 2018, group exhibition of encaustic and mixed media art

    It’s A Wrap Exhibit, Lafayette Art Association, Lafayette, LA, November 15th-January 24th, 2018, Group exhibition of fine art

    Eye of the Beholder 31st Annual Open Competition, Lafayette Art Association, Lafayette, LA, August 16th-October 25th, 2017, group exhibition of encaustic and mixed media art

    Whispers of My Soul, Lafayette Public Library, Lafayette, LA, June 8th-September 7th, 2017, Two-Person exhibition of encaustic and mixed media art

    Spring Art Exhibit, Lafayette Art Association and Gallery, Lafayette, LA, April 26th-July 29th, 2017, group exhibition of encaustic and mixed media art

    From the Heart, Green Apple Gallery, Lafayette Art Association, Lafayette, LA, March 28th-June 8th, 2017, Solo exhibition of encaustic and mixed media art

    Residencies
    2019 Michael David Residency, Frozen Gesture, Brooklyn, New York

    Bibliography
    Wolking, Trudie B.  “From the Heart.” The Acadiana Advocate Lafayette 1 April 2017:  2B. Print.

  • Education

    Bachelor of Science, General Studies, December 1999, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana


    Experience

    2nd Vice-President of the Lafayette Art Association, January 2018 to December 2018


    Affiliations

    Member of Encaustic Art Institute

    Member of International Encaustic Artists

    Member of The Acadiana Center for the Arts

    Member of Contemporary Arts Center

    Member of the New Orleans Art Association