Ava Roth: Encaustic Painter & Mixed Media Artist

Even for the greatest artists, nature’s ethereal beauty is hard to capture in ways that hold a candle to the real thing. Ava Roth chooses to put a spotlight on this beauty with her work by utilizing natural materials, emphasizing rather than overshadowing them.

“They're miraculous. So part of it is putting a spotlight on that. The way that I want to do that is to play with it and match it with something so that there is an equal offering of our life energy.”

With her bee project, Ava combined traditional crafts like embroidery and weaving to make unique displays that highlight the work that the honeybees put in to creating their intricate hives. 

“I tried to kind of show the real beauty of what the bees are just doing… And then the way that I'm trying to show that is to offer something that's also hopefully beautiful so that there can be something commensurate between us.”

Ava’s relationship with nature goes beyond the muse. From a young age, her father would encourage her to learn about the trees around her and develop relationships with them like you would with other living beings. She’s carried this mindset with her for her whole life, and it heavily influences her art. 

“This idea that the first sort of step in having a relationship with somebody is just seeing, just like literally seeing them opening your eyes to people around you. He used to say the same thing with the natural world.”

A film by Joana Betzner.

Original score by Peter Holbrook.