Sense of Place with Hannah Heaton
The height of summer is passing, the rains come daily with reminders of abundance and gratitude and the weather shifts just slightly to remind us of changes ahead. After some much needed pause within the gallery we are getting ready to open the doors again, collaborate and share with other artists and tell again.
This September we have Hannah Heaton from New Mexico in the gallery with her exhibition Sense of Place. A chance meeting at an Art Fair this summer, Hannah and Jill Sans exchanged their love of nature and the connection of that in their art. We are so excited to share Hannah’s work and her exploration of external and internal environments, with her deep connection from earth, to pigment to subject matter to completed piece of artwork that connects all the dots.
Hannah’s exhibition, Sense of Place opens September 2nd at The HeArt Box in downtown Flagstaff, followed by open Gallery day on Saturday, September 3rd and a special offering of earth pigment workshop taught by Hannah on September 4th.
Jill got to ask Hannah a few questions about her work and the upcoming show.
Artist, Hannah Heaton exploration of surrealism with southwest landscape
How did you get into painting?
HH - I started really getting into painting in high school. I had to paint these large wooden figures for a church play my mom was organizing, and that experience of losing myself in the brush strokes opened up a world I could escape into, sheltered from the drama of the teenage world. I would spend the rest of my high school career hulled up in the art room.
Have you always been inspired by the surrealist style? What draws you to this particular genre of artwork?
HH -I have always been enchanted by the genre magical realism in literature and I love the playful nature of surrealism. Dreaming up new ideas of what to paint facilitates this desire I have to escape from the world into an imagined reality.
Earth Pigment making with Hannah Heaton
Do you remember the moment (or time in your life that sparked it) when you started to become more aware of the connection between ourselves and external world?
HH - I don't think there was one particular moment rather many smaller moments that have expanded my awareness of myself and my body. For a long time I think I really was just a floating head walking around in the world, and things like painting, meditation, and dance slowly helped me tap into the physical plane of existence.
How is it to work with earth pigments, from gathering, processing to creating? Does it create more of a connection for you?
HH - Beyond the obvious physical connection between the subject of my paintings and the soil in the paint, I have found the real connection to be with the other humans who I get to share in the process of pigment making. Making your own paint from dirt is not for the faint of heart but the wonderful thing about pigment is how it can be a point of collaboration for artists of various media including clay, fiber arts, and painting.
Found at Sea, Hannah Heaton
Where do you hope to take your work from here? Future plans or dreams with painting?
HH - My name is being called by those old growth forests and I would love to do an artist residency surrounded by trees and green. Long term, I think it would be fun to build an artist collective where we come together to collaborate on processing materials that we use to create.
Sense of Place is on display at The HeArt Box in downtown Flagstaff from September 2nd - 30th, 2022. You can learn more about Hannah at https://www.hannahheaton.com/.