Dietlind Vander Schaaf: Between Silence and Gold

In her July 2025 exhibition, Portland-based artist Dietlind Vander Schaaf presents a luminous body of encaustic work that explores the meditative space between emotion and geometry, stillness and sound. Using encaustic, oil, graphite, ink, and 23 karat gold leaf, Vander Schaaf creates richly layered abstract paintings such as Pathways, Rivière, and Près that evoke quietude and interior landscapes. Influenced by Zen Buddhism, contemplative practices, and poetic minimalism, each work invites viewers to pause—honoring moments of introspection, transience, and presence. Her use of gold leaf and natural materials bridges the sacred and the organic, capturing the fleeting beauty of “jikan”—the silence between thoughts.

This exhibition is a standout in Maine’s contemporary art scene, merging spiritual abstraction with elegant material craftsmanship. Vander Schaaf’s encaustic techniques and signature minimal compositions reflect the influence of Agnes Martin and Hiroyuki Hamada, while grounding her firmly in the tradition of Maine’s contemplative artists. For collectors seeking serene, sophisticated artwork with depth and meditative power, this show offers standout contemporary encaustic paintings for sale. Anchored in mindful aesthetics, Sueño VI, Cloud, and Talvi highlight the quiet radiance and introspective clarity that define Vander Schaaf’s distinctive voice in the world of abstract mixed media painting.

Statement from the Artist:

I am honored to be one of four featured artists this month at Portland Art Gallery I have nine new works on view, including the largest painting I have completed to date. These paintings reflect my ongoing interest in the natural world as a source of beauty and pattern, as well as metaphor for our internal landscape. In several of the pieces I write fragments of poems with graphite and ink until the letters and words dissolve, becoming illegible shapes.

These paintings speak to the transient nature of time and memory and point to a poetics of lived experience. How - this work asks - can we stand in the middle of our lives and gather space within ourselves that is big enough to contain all that life has to offer? Can we slow down enough to appreciate the small ways life rises up to meet us in each moment, even during immense heartbreak?

The painting featured in the exhibition announcement below - Près - was inspired by paddleboarding among lilypads on Sabbathday Lake in Maine, looking down into the water and the hidden depths below. The title means "close" in French and suggests a sense of moving closer to understanding something about the mysterious nature of life itself.

I am thrilled to share this new work with you and hope you can attend the reception. 

Best wishes,

Dietlind