In the late 1970s, Irene F. Whittome’s practice shifted from moulded paper shapes to works in wax, which would emerge as one of her favoured materials. She coated found objects as well as cardboard and wood-plank constructions in encaustic (coloured pigments fused with hot wax and gasoline). The painstaking method of application, combined with a natural process (the encaustic-encased volumes were exposed to daylight) allowed the artist to achieve textures and colours reminiscent of a true aged patina and to fix, via a process of stratification, various experiences lived in the past, present and future. In 1980, the artist began employing encaustic and coloured pigments more intensively, creating a new series of painting-objects. Consisting of agglomerations of paper, doors, panels and cardboard coated in wax with black and white pigments, these pieces, entitled Encaustics, were shown at Galerie Yajima, Montréal, in 1980 and then incorporated into the re-enactment of Room 901 at the Alberta College of Art, Calgary, in 1983. They will be shown again along with selected works from the Room 901 series at Galerie Simon Blais, as part of the exhibition Aftermath.– Claudine Roger