Sali majored in Painting in college receiving an MFA in 1970 and an M.A. in Art History in 1973. Sali has studied with Zen artist Frederick Frank and visionary artists Alex Grey and Judith Cornell. Sali has taught art at U Mass, Amherst, Vermont State Art Center, Vermont Community College, Omega Institute and Westchester Com. College. Sali was an Artist in Residence in New York City Public Schools from 1999-2000. In 2004, she gained admission into the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Studio Center, where she continues to have her own individual studio
For 13 years, Sali taught art, raised two boys and had a working farm in rural Vermont. In 1999, Sali and her husband moved to New York City, where she paints, teaches Mandala Making and Chakra Healing workshops and has a practice as a Creative Life Coach.
About Encaustic Painting
*Encaustic painting uses a combination of dry pigment and molten beeswax, a process first used by ancient Greeks The word encaustic means literally "to burn back in". Each layer of painted wax is then heated and fused to the layer beneath it with a heat gun, torch or hot iron. Click here for more information about encaustic painting.
Moving into the spacious studio at the Elizabeth Foundation in 2004, afforded me the opportunity to explore encaustic painting, a new medium for me. All the work in these galleries are part of my last two years of experimentation with this painting process. I combined heated beeswax with carnuba and damar resin (for added hardness) in a crock pot, cooked it for 10 hours then poured the mixture into individual muffin tins to store. Then using a hot pancake griddle as a palette, I was able to combine the wax mixture with various pigments and then paint the melted mixture onto wooden panels.
With this paint medium, I could create transparent glazes, build up multiple layers of colors, uncover layers using a heat source, and also add textures by scraping or drawing into the wax. Or using the wax as glue I could also add collage or other natural objects such as seeds or grasses.
About Mandalas
Mandala making is a sacred art form that has been used for centuries as a meditative focus for healing and personal transformation. Mandalas, circles filled with inspired and symbolic imagery, trace their roots back to ancient spiritual traditions common to Native American, Hindu, Tibetan and medieval Christian religious practices, as well as to the contemporary psychoanalytic work of Carl Jung.
For ten years Sali has worked within the format of the mandala, a Sanskrit word for sacred circle. Her work is a modern interpretation of this ancient art form that Tibetan Buddhists referred to as a map of the cosmos. A press release for her Inside Out Mandala show states "Sali's delicate constructions interpret the sacred essence of the universe as the emanating and unifying energy of all things...and imply an eternal wholeness beyond cycles of life and death."
Eric Mendlow, former Art Director of Tibet House Cultural Center in New York, said of Sali's work, "This is good stuff! I usually don't like contemporary Buddhist inspired art and I've seen a lot of it! But this is fresh. You have found yourown unique voice while still retaining a Buddhist sensibility."
