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Wax Collagraph Printmaking

This event is currently full. Please reach out to our Education Manager at etella@contemprints.org to be placed on the waitlist.

Instructor: Elise Wagner

Date: Saturday, October 17 – Sunday, October 18, 2026

Time: 10am – 4pm

Class size: 4-8, All Levels

Cost*: $400 members, $450 non-members

*includes all essential materials

 

Workshop Description: This October, we’re excited to welcome back acclaimed artist and educator Elise Wagner for an immersive Wax Collagraph Printmaking Workshop! Known for developing this innovative method, Wagner brings decades of experience teaching and exhibiting internationally, offering a unique opportunity to learn directly from the artist who pioneered the technique.

Traditionally, a collagraph is a collaged printing plate. Wagner’s distinctive approach replaces collage materials with a specially formulated white encaustic wax, allowing artists to create richly textured plates through carving, embossing, and mark-making. In this workshop, participants will explore the dynamic intersection of encaustic painting and printmaking, using heat tools, textiles, and Wagner’s signature encaustic collagraph medium to build plates full of depth and detail.

Working with both plexiglas and Ampersand Claybord, artists will discover the unique qualities of each surface. Plates will be inked with non-toxic, soy and honey-based Akua Inks and printed onto a variety of papers, including delicate Japanese sheets and Evolon microfiber. The process encourages experimentation and pushes the boundaries of both mediums.

Whether you are a printmaker, painter, or mixed media artist, this workshop offers a rare chance to expand your visual language and explore the expressive possibilities of wax collagraph printmaking.

 

*All workshop registrations should provide an email confirmation after they are submitted. If you did not receive an email confirming your class registration, please give us a call at 203-899-7999

  • Sat October 17, 2026
  • Start: 10:00 am
  • Upstairs Studio – Not ADA accessible
    Center for Contemporary Printmaking
    Norwalk, CT 06850

Your Instructor(s)

Elise Wagner

Based in Astoria, Oregon and originally from Jersey City, New Jersey,  Elise Wagner is an internationally exhibiting encaustic painter, printmaker, educator, and the creator of PrintWax, an innovative encaustic collagraph process that expands the possibilities of wax as a printmaking medium. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Portland State University and has spent over two decades exploring the intersection of painting and printmaking, developing techniques that merge the ancient medium of encaustic with contemporary print practices.

Her work combines beeswax, resin, pigment, and printmaking processes to investigate themes of nature, geology, mapping, and the relationship between human experience and the natural world. Wagner’s paintings and prints have been exhibited nationally and internationally and are held in private and public collections. Her artistic practice has been supported by numerous grants and awards, including a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and support from the Ford Family Foundation.

As an educator, Wagner has taught encaustic painting and wax collagraph techniques throughout the United States and internationally. She has presented demonstrations of her innovative wax collagraph process at the Southern Graphics Council International (SGCI) Conference and the International Encaustic Conference, sharing her research and material exploration with artists, printmakers, and educators. She has taught at Women’s Studio Workshop, Center for Contemporary Printmaking and the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in New York.

Through PrintWax, her proprietary encaustic medium created specifically for collagraph printmaking, Wagner continues to advance new possibilities in surface, texture, and image-making within contemporary print practice.

To learn more about Elise Wagner and her work, visit her website at https://www.elisewagner.com/

You can also read a recent feature on her process here: https://www.warnockfinearts.com/articles/2026/2/23/elise-wagner-ancient-materials-contemporary-abstraction