Shelly Lamb Beeswax: Ode to a Honeybee

Mezzanine

Shelly Lamb is a deeply place-rooted, multi-media artist whose work is profoundly informed by both the natural environment of the Kootenays and her respect for Indigenous land and ecological consciousness. Based on the unceded territory of the Ktunaxa Nation (Creston, BC), her artistic path followed a unique trajectory: from a career in nursing while raising two children to a full-time commitment to visual art. This personal history imbues her work with a strong sense of care, resilience, and groundedness.

Lamb’s practice engages directly with the landscape’s visual poetry—especially the mountains and forests—and acts as a gentle but critical reflection on humanity’s relationship with the environment. Her works aren’t just scenic depictions; they are ethical meditations. She urges viewers to reflect on what we take from the land and how we choose to interact with it. Her artistic response is one of respectful documentation and celebration rather than confrontation.

Central to Lamb’s recent work is her dedication to encaustic painting, a millennia-old technique involving beeswax and damar resin, which allows for deep layering, texture, and tactile depth. This medium aligns perfectly with her desire for sensory engagement, offering viewers a multi-dimensional experience that mirrors the complexity and beauty of nature itself. The molten, living quality of wax becomes both a metaphor for transformation and a literal material exploration of surfaces, textures, and memory.

Her ten-year relationship with encaustic work speaks to her evolving yet consistent exploration of natural processes, materiality, and artistic intuition—seeking to go beyond the boundaries of conventional painting and into a visceral, immersive dialogue with creation.