Heather Hanson

Born and raised in the American West, I am compelled to portray my contemporary visual experience of this storied region. Place is an invariable facet to my imagery. Place evokes emotion and is documentarian in character. With a focus on the esoteric nature of locale, my works contemplate American iconography, our disappearing surroundings, coincidence, happenstance and the road. My pieces combine multiple printmaking techniques with bright process colors that incorporate landscape and the mysticism in the mundane. Most often, my imagery illustrates the opposition of human constructs against the open vastness of the shrinking American Western landscape. I believe everywhere we travel becomes part of our internal home. With my work, I put forth this shared commonality to the viewer.
 

SPHERES: Frequency & Proximity
Often, it is the inanimate that seems animate, the nonverbal that appears to communicate. My current Bachelor of Fine Arts thesis at the University of Colorado, Boulder, explores ideas of repetitive metaphysics and synchro mysticism. Primarily, these terms reference coincidences in the mundane and the practice of assigning them esoteric, mystical explanations. This phenomenology is a preoccupation that defines my personal tendencies to do so.

The balls in Spheres are randomly seen. Usually found after a particularly windy instance which has set the balls free, defying their logical placement. Caught in a place of seeming respite, the sphere is uniquely shaped to arrive here. The errant ball, usually found in creek beds and amongst trees is an agreement that we may see what we look for. It affirms a yearning for freedom (they’ve escaped). And a “synchro-mystic”, rebellious spirit in the synthetic inanimate. The collection of escaped balls, depicted in Spheres, muses upon the frequency, and proximity, of seemingly random events.

With the onslaught of COVID 19, Frequency and Proximity may be casting these presumptive spherical messages in a new light. I am re-considering my own frequency and proximity, and that of others. 

Artist Website
@rockymountainheather