Teri Pastorino
Teri Pastorino is a contemporary visual artist working in encaustic, cold wax, plaster, photography, and mixed media. Her work explores the connection between material, memory, and the built and natural environments. She creates abstract surfaces with depth and detail, inviting viewers to slow down, look closely, and discover subtle shifts in light and texture over time.
Her work develops through repeated cycles of applying, carving, and fusing — integrating photographic imagery and natural materials as extensions of place. Each surface becomes a visible record of decision-making, process, and craft.
Inspiration comes from close observation of everyday environments. Forms and interactions found in nature, built spaces, and lived experience are distilled into visual elements that are abstract yet grounded in recognizable patterns or rhythms. Rather than portraying a specific scene, her work draws from what we notice or remember — the details and structures we carry with us.
In 2025, Pastorino completed a 100-day exploration of wax and plaster processes, marking a shift toward a full-time studio practice and continued focus on material-driven abstraction.
“What Time Revealed”
Artwork Description: What Time Revealed is a piece that began as a nontraditional Arriccio and Fresco surface intentionally pushed past stability. I built layered plaster and allowed it to cure under conditions that encouraged stress in the surface. As it dried, the plaster fractured and separated, creating cracks and rough passages. Once dry, I applied pigment washes and encaustic, working into the openings and high areas so the later layers responded to what had already occurred rather than covering it.
I chose this work for Fresh Start because it reflects a change in how I approach the material. Instead of protecting the surface, I allowed it to break and reveal its own history. The cracks are not damage but evidence of process — a record of pressure, time, and acceptance. Beginning the year with this piece feels right because it marks a willingness to let the work lead and to see failure as part of discovery.
This work reflects a broader direction in my practice of combining plaster, fresco, encaustic, cold wax, and oil within the same body of work. Some surfaces remain open and quiet while others hold dense texture. The focus is on the surface itself — how materials record.
EMAIL: teripastorino@gmail.co
“Dawn to Dusk I (of IV)”
12 x 12 Acrylic $350
8 x 11 Oil $200
Artwork Description: Traces: What Remains is a piece created with oil paint and cold wax through layered application, scraping, and mark-making. I build textured passages, interrupt them, and then work back into the surface so earlier colors reappear in unexpected ways. Some areas are buried while others return, allowing the painting to develop through both addition and removal. Rather than planning an image, I respond to what the surface reveals as it evolves.
I chose this work for Fresh Start because it reflects a process of discovery. The painting grows through attention and adjustment, keeping what continues to feel active while allowing other passages to recede. The marks become a record of decisions and time spent looking, not a depiction of a specific subject.
This work connects to my broader practice of combining plaster, fresco, encaustic, cold wax, and oil within the same body of work. Whether quiet or heavily textured, the focus
EMAIL: teripastorino@gmail.com
12 x 12 Encaustic $300
“Traces: What Remains ”
“Mineral Pools II”
Artwork Description: Mineral Pools II is created from layered plaster, acrylic washes, and small passages of gold leaf. I work directly into the plaster, sanding and reworking the surface while thin washes soak into the material rather than sitting on top. The layers remain visible and develop slowly over time.
The piece suggests a still body of water or mineral basin — not a specific place, but a quiet space where change happens gradually. A narrow line of gold shifts with light and movement, creating a moment of reflection within the surface.
I chose this work for Fresh Start because it reflects an openness I am seeking in my practice. I am increasingly combining plaster, fresco, encaustic, cold wax, and oil within the same body of work. Some surfaces remain spacious and quiet while others hold dense texture, but the focus stays on the surface itself — how materials record time, pressure, and process, and how meaning can emerge slowly through attention and patience.
EMAIL: teripastorino@gmail.com
12 x 12 Encaustic $350
Artwork Description: Dawn to Dusk I is created with many layers of encaustic wax built through repeated application, fusing, scraping, and reworking. Earlier passages remain visible beneath the surface so the painting develops through accumulation rather than a single moment. The textures form gradually as areas are exposed and softened over time.
The linear elements act as markers of passage, referencing the movement from sunrise to sunset and the return of the next day. The work grew from my daily drive to work, watching the light change along the same route each morning. While no specific landscape is depicted, the piece reflects a quiet awareness of transition and repetition, where small shifts become meaningful through attention. As the first in a series of four, it establishes the cycle the remaining works continue.
I chose this work for Fresh Start because the daily return of sunrise reflects beginning again with attention and patience — a steady renewal rather than a dramatic change, echoed in the luminous quality of encaustic wax. Within my broader practice I also work with plaster, fresco, cold wax, and oil, but across materials the focus remains the same: how process records time and how repetition reveals change.
EMAIL: teripastorino@gmail.com