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Coming Home by Kris Gruben

Gallery 'N' Gifts featuring artist Kris Gruben -- Gallery 'N' Gifts invites you to join them on First Friday May 5, 2017 from 5 to 8 p.m. to experience the artwork of Kris Gruben. Kris Gruben is a Bear Valley Springs resident and a mixed media artist working in the ancient wax technique of encaustic. Encaustic is an ancient technique dating back to the Greeks. The word encaustic means, "to heat or burn in". Heat is used throughout the process, from melting the natural beeswax and dammar resin, to fusing the layers of wax together. Colored pigments may be added and applied with a brush or any tool to create the image. Each layer is then reheated to fuse it to the previous layer. Kris moved to Bear Valley Springs with her husband in 2014 and lives there with two dogs, three acres of land, and two of their sixteen grandchildren close by. Kris has been surround by art her entire life. Her mother was a professional oil and watercolor artist in the San Diego area for many years. Over the years Kris has explored many different artistic mediums to feed her creative soul. After taking several encaustic workshops in Bakersfield, she found her passion. She enjoys experimenting and playing with the wax. Gallery 'N' Gifts hopes you'll take the time to stop by, meet the artist, enjoy free refreshments and perhaps enjoy a glass of wine or punch on First Friday May 5. That will also be the closing night for the Mother's Day Silent Auction for the Arts at 6 p.m. All proceeds from the auction go directly to funding art scholarships for high school seniors and art supplies for local area classrooms. For more information please call (661) 822-6062 or on facebook at www.facebook.com/galleryngifts.