My mixed media art practice explores transformation, continuity, and renewal through texture and layered materials embedded in the ancient medium of encaustic wax.  Elements include natural elements, pigment, handmade harakeke paper,  and ephemera. Encaustic wax preserves and reveals, its transparency and textures create surfaces that hold memory and invite contemplation. Working intuitively, I embrace uncertainty, allowing each painting to emerge through gesture, visceral response, action and curiosity rather than predetermined outcomes. My work predominantly investigates themes of sovereignty, freedom, belonging, and purpose, balancing vulnerability with resilience. Through texture, depth, and light, I seek to create works that encourage meaningful engagement, inviting viewers to reflect on shared experiences of vulnerability, discovery, connection and renewal.

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​Keen’s artistic practice transitioned from ceramicist, to discovering the artisanal techniques of working with encaustic wax and the raw flame. Hands-on to the point of sculptural, hands become tools, used to feel and feed the multiple layers. Paintings are literally actioned into being brushed, incised, and torched  (upwards of 50 layers),  melting into existence. This difficult yet versatile medium, provided Helen with a foundation for experimentation and an exploratory abstraction where a conversation occurs between artist, and artists past and present. Alive each painting encompasses its own unique properties.  Once tempered, finished paintings distil a soft luminosity, transparency, rich in blended textures and are cured for six to 12 months before being polished to a sheen. Igniting the senses of visual, touch and even smell.