A Hendersonville artist donates to Mainstay at the Flat Rock Playhouse production of Chicago.

by Ursula Gullow . photo by Matt Rose

Stacy Vanden Heuvel decided the best way to celebrate her first solo art show would be to help out her community. Vanden Heuvel’s encaustic paintings, giclee prints, note cards and journals will be on display at the Flat Rock Playhouse during the theater’s run of Chicago, from May 18 to June 12. Twenty five percent of all sales of her work will go to Mainstay, an organization that helps victims of domestic violence in Henderson County.

Encaustic paintings, created by melting and fusing layers of colored wax, date back to 100 A.D., when Egyptians used hot wax to create portraits they buried with mummies. Now, it’s all the rage of the contemporary art world. But the antiquity of the medium is partly why Vanden Heuvel was so drawn to it. “A lot of people think it’s fragile, but there are encaustics that are hundreds of years old that are in great condition,” she says. “I just thought, what a great concept, to take something that’s been around for so long and reinterpret it into my own way in this century.”

Vanden Heuvel, 41, has been making artwork since she graduated with a BFA from Auburn University in Alabama nearly 20 years ago. The avid rock climber and mother of three has been working with encaustics for two years, having taught herself the medium by reading books and watching videos. “I just started experimented and figuring out what works for me,” she says.

See more of Vanden Heuvel’s work at www.mtnartist.com.