Artist reception for ArtSpace Gallery exhibit – Cindy Lesperance

The ArtSpace Gallery at the Quad-Cities Campus is exhibiting “Strata: A Record of Time and Disruption” – encaustics by Cindy Lesperance – from Monday, Nov. 3 through Friday, Dec. 12.

Everyone is invited to a closing reception Thursday, Dec. 11 from 4-5:15 p.m. with an artist talk at 4:15 p.m. Light refreshments will be provided.

The ArtSpace Gallery is located on the first floor of Building 4 at the Quad-Cities Campus, 6600 34th Ave., Moline.

For more information about exhibits in the ArtSpace Gallery, email ArtDesign@bhc.edu or visit Black Hawk College Art and Design.

About the artist

Cindy Lesperance is an award-winning encaustic artist based in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Known for her richly textured, abstract works, Lesperance explores the interplay of color, surface and form through the ancient medium of encaustic. Her work has been exhibited in juried exhibitions, galleries and museums throughout the United States and is included in both private and public collections internationally.

She is represented by Alma Gallery in Chicago and Plum Bottom Gallery in Door County, WI. Lesperance is a board member at large and former president (2019-21) of FUSEDChicago, a collective of Midwest artists working in encaustic. She also is an active member of the Women’s Caucus for the Arts.

Her work has been featured in Encaustic Arts Magazine, ACS Magazine and on the cover of the Journal of Financial Service Professionals. Notably, her art is part of the permanent collection at the Encaustic Art Institute in Santa Fe, NM.

Artist Statement

This body of work uses the ancient medium of encaustic — a blend of beeswax, damar resin and pigment — to explore how time, memory and experience leave quiet traces on our inner landscapes.

Each painting is created through a slow, repetitive process: I apply thousands of small wax droplets, one by one, to the surface. The process is deliberate and meditative — an act of attention and endurance. While some areas follow this rhythmic pattern, others are scratched, marking moments of disruption or shift.  The surface becomes a kind of terrain — a tactile record of time, attention and transformation.

The title — “Strata” — is drawn from geology: layers of rock or sediment that build up over time and record the forces that shaped them. I use that idea as a metaphor for human experience — not visible, geological layers, but emotional ones we carry just beneath the surface.

These works invite you to slow down. From afar, you see rhythm and hue — but as you move closer, the textures and evidence of time and touch begin to reveal themselves.

My hope is that you’ll reflect on your own internal layers — what has shaped you, what you’ve let go of and what remains in quiet accumulation.