Patch interviews encaustic artist Amy Keller '87

South End Patch reporter Christopher Treacy interviews encaustic artist Amy Keller ’87 of Kingston, Mass., about her work and about switching from one creative visual medium (photography) to another.

Encaustic painting involves laying wax and pigments onto paintings, drawings or other epherma. Keller sketches onto rice paper, paints the drawings with gouache, hand cuts other elements “and then place them, layer by layer, into the wax to build up the composition.”

Keller says she misses photography for the “freedoms inherent in photo shoots. Going on a personal shoot is very meditative and I still do try and get out now and then.” On the other hand, encaustic mixed media offers endless possibilities. “This is both exciting and daunting,” she says. “Sometimes my head swims with ideas and if I don’t get them down on paper, I’m like a deer in the headlights, frozen by my thoughts.” Her company is called Bumble Belly Designs.

The biggest difference between shooting and encaustics is the “sculptural and textural” feel of the finished project. It “has a unique physical depth. I also get to get my hands dirty doing it—and that’s one of my favorite parts.” View story from the South End Patch, Aug. 27, 2011.