Beth Erlund

The Artist

Born in the hill country of Texas, Beth Erlund graduated with a B.A. in Zoology from Louisiana State University. For two and a half years, in Japan, she explored many of the oriental art forms and fell in love with the art of batik. In this medium, she finds the challenges of design and color to be never ending. Her love of nature has influenced her choice of subject matter, and she enjoys researching her subjects in their natural environments.

The Art Form

Batik is at least 2000 years old and has been maintained as an art form in Egypt, China, Japan and Indonesia. Batik-making is a process of producing a design with the use of resist and dyes. Hot wax is the traditional resist and is applied with a tjaunting (a brass cup mounted on a wooden handle). The waxing and dyeing process is repeated on natural fibers, working from the lightest color to the darkest until the design is complete. Then most of the wax is removed revealing a combination of careful planning, technical and artistic craftsmanship and unpredictable character in the form of "crackle."

Publications Books Nature In Art, A Celebration of 300 Years of Wildlife Painting David Trapnell The Best of Wildlife Art North Light Books, 1997 Owls of North America Jeffery Whiting, 1997 Magazines Wildlife Art News November/December 1990 November/December 1993 The Artist's Magazine January 1992 Sporting Classics September 1992 Sporting Clays March 1993 U.S. Art June 1996 August 1997 Other Artist Wetlands Institute, NJ Poster 1993 and 1994

Exhibitions British Museum of Natural History — Christie's Exhibition Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum Art of the Nations Museum Easton Waterfowl Festival Gasparilla Festival of Art Wax Eloquent, World Batik Conference Finalist, Artist Magazine 2005 Art Competition Coconut Grove Art Festival Bennington Art Museum, Art and the Animal