BIO
Kari Hall is an encaustic painter based in Sugar Land, Texas, whose work is deeply inspired by the landscape of northern Michigan. Spending every summer with her family at their lake home on Burt Lake, Kari draws upon the calm waters, shifting skies, and glowing sunsets of the Great Lakes region as the heart of her creative practice.
Born and raised in the Chicagoland area, Kari earned a BA in Visual Communications Design from Purdue University, where she was first introduced to encaustic painting. After a successful decade-long career as a graphic designer, she left the field in 2014 to pursue her passion as a full-time artist.
Working with beeswax, pigment, and fire, Kari creates expressive, light-filled landscapes that capture fleeting moments of stillness and connection. Her paintings reflect both the outer landscape of water and sky, and the inner landscape of memory, emotion, and resilience. Often exploring the interplay of light and darkness, Kari’s work embodies themes of renewal, hope, and the quiet strength of nature.
Her paintings have been exhibited in galleries across the Midwest, including Zhou B Art Center, ARC Gallery, and the historic Fine Arts Building in Chicago. She has been featured in publications such as Fresh Paint Magazine and Voyage Houston, and her work is held in private collections throughout the United States. Kari is newly represented by Higher Art Gallery in Traverse City, Michigan, where her work continues to connect with the lakes and landscapes that inspire her.
In addition to her studio practice, Kari is a wife and mother of two daughters, finding inspiration in the balance of family life and creative work. For her, encaustic painting is not just a medium but a metaphor—layered, luminous, and shaped by both control and surrender.
Artist statement
I paint memories of light in the landscape, using beeswax, fire, and pigment to capture fleeting moments of beauty. My work is about more than just the physical world—it is an exploration of hope, a search of light within the horizon and within ourselves. Through the framework of landscape, I paint expressively, allowing intuition and emotion to shape each piece.
I am drawn to the contrasts of light and dark, the tension between the seen and unseen. What is illuminated? What remains hidden beneath the surface? These are the questions that guide my practice. Working with encaustic—a medium that requires both control and surrender—I build up soft, luminous layers of melted beeswax and pigment, fusing them with fire before carving, smoothing, and melting again. This process of revealing and obscuring mirrors the way we experience memory, emotion, and time.
Each painting is a meditation, a sensory experience that invites touch, smell, and sight. The natural fragrance of beeswax, the warmth of the torch, the movement of color across the panel—all of it draws me deeper into the moment, into the physical act of creation. In this space, I find connection. To place. To memory. To something greater than myself.
Ultimately, my intention is to offer a sense of solace and wonder. A reminder that even in moments of uncertainty, there is always light breaking through.
What is Encaustic Art?
Encaustic is a painting method where color-pigmented beeswax is melted, applied to a surface and reheated to fuse the paint into a smooth or textured finish. The word encaustic comes from Greek word enkaustikos and means 'to burn in', which refers to the process of fusing the paint. Encaustic has a long history, but it has been experiencing a recent resurgence in popularity due to the increased convenience and safety of heating appliances. The surface can be polished to a high gloss, it can be modeled, sculpted, textured, and combined with collage materials. It cools immediately, so that there is no drying time, yet it can always be reworked. The durability of encaustic is due to the fact that beeswax is impervious to moisture. Because of this it will not deteriorate. Encaustic paintings do not have to be varnished or protected by glass.