The Museum of Encaustic Art was founded in 2005 by Doug Mehrens and his wife, Adrienne, in Los Cerrillos. Originally, the building served as Doug’s personal studio, but his passion for the encaustic art inspired him to transform it into a public museum. For a time the museum moved to Santa Fe, finding a place within the city’s eclectic art scene. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced a long-term shutdown, the Mehrens moved their museum back to its original home.

Encaustic is a Greek word meaning “to heat or burn in” (enkaustikos). Heat is used throughout the process, from melting the beeswax and varnish to fusing the layers of wax. Encaustic consists of natural bees wax and dammar resin (crystallized tree sap). In ancient times, artists in places like Greece and Egypt used beeswax mixed with a hardening agent like damar resin. Many of the works on display in the museum use this same method. Other works feature modern techniques like melting photos into wax, or even just melting crayons with a propane torch.

The goal of the Museum of Encaustic Art is to grow the largest, most extensive, and best represented encaustic art collection in America. This includes several categories of encaustic art, such as encaustic painting, encaustic with paper and photography, encaustic with mixed media, encaustic sculpture, encaustic monotypes, and cold wax. It intends to bring attention to this medium to the public at large through enticing exhibits, tours/hands-on demonstrations and collaboratively working with other community organizations.

In addition to being a repository of encaustic art, the museum also serves as an educational space. Group workshops offer the opportunity to learn how to make your own encaustic art. A library within the museum offers literature on encaustic techniques and other art forms.

According to moeart.org; atlasobscura.com