Page 26 - Wax Fusion Spring 2022 Issue 6 WIP v19

About the Author

Diane Kleiss was born in an Iowan Heartland community, where
life was all about the land and the seeds. This heritage resulted

in several art series over the years honoring that life-giving
environment – Mother Earth.

After receiving a B.A. at Itasca Community College in Grand
Rapids, MN, she continued at the University of Minnesota,

Duluth and received a B.F.A. – K-12 Art Education degree and a
minor in Art History. During that time, five inspiring summers

were spent taking weeklong workshops at the Grand Marais Art
Colony in northern Minnesota, surrounded by like-minded

artists and inspiring lake and wooded vistas, her art expanded
and flourished. After graduation she taught grades 1-12 art for

five years at the Minnesota Cromwell School District, while also
owning a resort for 20 years on a remote
lake filled with nature’s bounty, further

inspiring her environmental art focus.

In 1994, she moved to Tucson, AZ,
trading rippling lakes for earth-bound

mountains filled with ancient rock
surfaces. She became involved in several

art organizations, also continuing to
teach art in schools, art centers, and in

her studio.

In 2008, she turned to painting and

sculpting with beeswax, an ancient
encaustic medium that she could pour,

carve, and mold. Now directing more
attention to her own studio practice, she began building a body

of work joining other encaustic groups to expand her
techniques and knowledge of this medium. Her art evolved and

this led to acceptance in exhibits around the U.S.

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