Saturday, December 5, 2026, 4:30PM – 6:00PM
Join the Woodstock School of Art for an engaging panel discussion on encaustic, featuring panelists Richard Frumess, Darin Seim, Leslie Giuliani, Joan Ffolliott, and Leslie Yolen. The conversation will be moderated by Regina B. Quinn and Nina Doyle.
Richard Frumess was initially a painter working in a wide variety of mediums when, in 1982, he began manufacturing encaustic paint for Torch Artists Supplies in New York City. In 1988, after Torch had closed, he founded R&F Handmade Paints to ensure the continuance of commercial encaustic paint. Two years later developed Pigment Sticks.
His color workshops grew out of an investigation into the underlying principles of R&F’s color line that had been developed intuitively over the years by him and R&F’s staff. The workshops are intended to ground color theory in the material characteristics of individual colors in any medium.
Darin Seim is the president and co-owner of R&F Handmade Paints in Kingston, New York. He studied painting and philosophy at the State University of New York at New Paltz. In 1996, he took a job making paint for R&F founder Richard Frumess. After a few years away from the company, he returned in 2005 to manage a rapidly growing production department and has been President of the company since 2014. Darin remains focused on R&F’s mission to create useful, unique, colors and tools in the realm of oil and wax through partnerships with artists around the world.
Leslie Giuliani is an American contemporary artist. Her work combines textiles, encaustic, oil painting and printmaking.
Born in Philadelphia, PA, Giuliani received her BFA in Fine Art from The University of Delaware, with further studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Her work is represented in collections of the Housatonic Museum of Art, the State of CT, and many private collections. She was the recipient of an Artist Fellowship Grant from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism for Craft. She is Core Support Instructor for R&F Handmade Paints. Giuliani lives and works in Weston, CT.
Joan Ffolliott received her BFA from the University of Washington in sculpture and printmaking. She went on to earn her MFA at the Rhode Island School of Design and was a recipient of a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant for emerging artists. Joan has exhibited her work in numerous shows around the country and she is included in many private collections. In addition to teaching at RISD, Sonoma State University, and Wheaton College, she is currently a member of the faculty at SUNY Ulster Community College, the Woodstock School of Art, and the owner of Ffolliott Design. She lives and works in Malden-on-Hudson, New York.
Leslie Yolen lives and works in the Helderberg Mountains of Upstate New York. She has worked predominantly in clay until recently working in painting and sculpture as her prominent mediums.
Yolen boasts a lengthy career in arts education and recently retired from her position as the Arts Education Associate at the New York State Education Department. Prior to working with NYSED, Yolen taught Visual Art in public schools for over twenty years. During her career she has organized several artist residencies and operated a successful art studio business while directing a cooperative fine arts & craft gallery.
Yolen has exhibited nationally and has received numerous awards including the Cooperstown Art Association’s 2023 National Juror’s Citation, Albany Center Gallery’s Honorable Mention Award, and the Orchard Valley Ceramic Arts Guild Award. She studied at Bennington College (BA) and the College of Saint Rose (MA) and continues to learn from renowned artists in regional workshop settings.
Regina B. Quinn is an award-winning encaustic artist residing in the northern Catskill Mountains. Her career encompasses painting, photography, ceramics, printmaking, and theatrical set design, although she now focuses on creating works in encaustics combined with oils and ink. She teaches encaustic painting internationally and her work is included in the permanent collections of the Williamsburg Art and Historical Center in Brooklyn and the Museum of Encaustic Art in Santa Fe. Regina is represented by Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson and serves as president of International Encaustic Artists.
Nina Doyle joined the Woodstock School of Art as Executive Director in 2017 and brings over 30 years of experience working for not-for-profit organizations in a variety of settings and populations. She leads the School’s strategic direction, operations, and fundraising, and has secured major funding for campus restoration, renewable energy, and youth training. Her prior roles include Director of Development at Mill Street Loft and many years with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Dutchess County, where she developed youth and community education programs. She holds a Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Humanistic Education from SUNY New Paltz.
