Naomi Hart's encaustic paintings focus on the illustrative details of nature: soft, feathery moths, translucent dragonfly wings, and colorful, scaly fish. She embeds her surrealist drawings and etchings in layers of beeswax and builds magical stories. Hart explains, “I use storytelling and a love for the natural world to expose my personal journey for all its potential, despite its uncertainty.”  Hart’s work explores the possibility of healing and conveys a sense of hope. Human hearts safely nestle in knobby tree branches and children joyfully ride blue jays and tiptoe around turtles. Birds and butterflies tend flowers, chrysalises, and hearts, symbolizing the change inspired by recognizing and empathizing with our emotions.

Naomi Hart grew up in the remote wilds of Northern Minnesota where the natural world became her education and refuge. A lifelong Minnesota resident, she divides her time between art studios in Minnesota and a family retreat in the Driftless, Wisconsin area. She holds an MFA in Contemporary Printmaking and Book Arts from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, and a BA in Fine Art from Northwestern University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Image Credit: Naomi Hart, "I counted the number of steps it took to find your memory; A Matter of Perspective," encaustic mixed media, 16"x46"