In 1999, when Erin Keane decided to shuck her Midwestern roots and relocate to Asheville, NC, the arts educator religiously dialed every school district in the area, asking the same question: "Every Monday, I would call and say, 'Do you have any job openings yet?'” Each time, the answer was the same: “‘Nope. The one art teacher hasn't quit yet, so you'll have to try again next week.’”
Erin's perseverance eventually paid off when she secured a position teaching art to middle schoolers in Brevard, a picturesque city known as "the land of waterfalls," located about 35 miles southwest of Asheville. Now, a quarter of a century later, Erin has carved out a reputation as a versatile regional artist and educator whose mixed-media works reflect a deep and abiding appreciation for the flora and fauna of Western North Carolina. Her work seamlessly combines photography and bookbinding with encaustic, an ancient hot wax painting technique that Erin "fell in love with" after attending a professional development class hosted by the Asheville Art Museum.
“For years, encaustic and bookbinding were separate entities in my life. Then they converged,” Erin recalls. With their lustrous covers and innovative stitching, her sprawling book sculptures and journals celebrate the art of bookmaking, engaging viewers in a “visual conversation between wax, paper, and thread.” Erin's exploration of encaustic techniques has similarly transformed her photographic projects, which emphasize reflective surfaces, shadow play, and intentional camera movement. “Every photograph is saturated with encaustic medium,” she explains. “This creates soft imagery with a luminous glow, subtle texture, and aromatic scent of beeswax. The photographs are tiled together in groupings or within a frame, and the visual appearance is a blend of photography and painting.”
Over the years, Erin became so proficient in encaustic techniques that she began teaching her students and adult artists across the region. Though she left the teaching position that brought her to Asheville in 2011—"I just didn't have any creative energy left over at the end of the day"—Erin continued teaching workshops at 310 ART in Riverview Station until Hurricane Helene flooded the industrial warehouse beyond use. Luckily, her living room studio survived unscathed.
As Erin regroups, she's busy preparing that studio space for a new series of classes. Her upcoming workshops, designed for small groups of one to four participants, will focus on bookbinding, encaustic, and visual journaling. Scheduled to launch in March, these workshops mark a new chapter for Erin: "I've already gotten back to work making new art, and I'm excited to start teaching."
Scroll through to read our interview with Erin Keane, then head to our March 2025 exhibition, Reawakening: Craft Artists of Western North Carolina, to see her submissions.
In Today’s Q+Art Interview…
Erin Keane discusses the ins and outs of visual journaling, where she finds ideas and imagery for her work, and which books she’s read “probably 100 times.”
How do you like to start your day?
Erin Keane: I make a smoothie for myself and my partner, John. I make our tea, and then right away, I get into the studio at 8:30 a.m., work until about 4:30 p.m., and stop. I go on a hike every single day for about 45 minutes to an hour.
Can you tell us about visual journaling? How can we get started?
EK: Visual journaling is a combination of a diary and a sketchbook. So pretty much anything goes with it. It's any type of drawing, painting, mixed media, collage, sometimes just texture on a page or pattern, but also involves the writing. And the writing can be anything. It could be words by themselves, it could be a list of things. It could be a quote, song lyrics, prose, poetry, stream of consciousness writing, or anything that combines the visual aspect of art with writing in words.
How does living in Asheville influence or affect your work?
EK: Most of the photographs I take are either from the trails or we also do a lot of canoeing on lakes and rivers. I would say 90 percent of my imagery comes from our adventures.
What are your favorite places to hike around Western North Carolina?
EK: I have three trails right by my house, about a five-minute drive away. And so I tend to go on those daily just because it's quick. I know the trails really well. They're not super populated, so I can bring my dog and have her off of a leash. Sometimes I meet up with a friend and we go together. But my partner and I go everywhere on weekends, all over Pisgah National Forest, Cherokee, and Nantahala. So, an hour or two hours radius of Asheville.
Tell us about some of your favorite books.
EK: I love Barbara Kingsolver, so I'm a big fan of her books. One of her favorites is Prodigal Summer, which is a little bit of an older book, but it comes to my mind as a favorite of mine. I've read it several times.
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. I have it on my Kindle app, so when I open it, I'll go to a random page and start reading whatever it is because that's another book I've read probably a hundred times. I'll grab a random page and start reading it.
Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit. That's another favorite. Love that book. It's my Bible. I think I've also read it a hundred times. And again, it's like you can open any page, and it will resonate.
Can you tell us how photography figures into your practice?
EK: Photography is a whole different part of my process. I don't usually use it in my books at all, or very little, I should say. But in photography, I'm looking for reflections on water or through a window or glass, looking for shadows, or using intentional camera movement to create blurred color. I might be walking through the forest, taking my camera on a slow shutter speed and moving the camera up and down vertically as I take my picture. As I'm moving my camera up and down and with a slow shutter speed, it blurs the colors and the lines together. Or I could move my camera side to side, or sometimes I move it in all different directions to get more abstract imagery.
Erin Keane: Website | Instagram
This interview has been edited for clarity. All images published with permission of Erin Keane; featured photo: “Azalea Whispers.”