Vera Ranguelova

Iowa City, IA

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

 

 

Vera Ranguelova was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, and moved to the United States in 1999. Her life in the USA started in Iowa City, IA, where she received a BA and MA at the University of Iowa. In 2003 her family relocated to Seattle, WA, where Vera started her design and marketing career, which she is still practicing. Now, back in Iowa City, after 20 years on the West Coast, she dedicates her work time to encaustic art and product marketing for the medical industry.

 

As an artist, Vera is interested in the beauty and complexity of patterns: imagined, real, and defined by nature or culture. She uses a mixture of beeswax, damar resin (encaustic medium), and dry pigments to tint the molten wax. The addition of plaster, glue, tar, or other media that binds well with the wax enhances its texture or color. Wax is a unique painting material: it melts, changes, loses shape or hardens in surprising forms. It challenges the artist’s idea of perfection and asks for forgiveness. It is a medium that requires you to step back, accept its playfulness, and disregard the desire for perfectly defined lines.