fall sketching | new directions with REFLECT series

September 13, 2023

I’ve got so many ideas swirling for my REFLECT (architectural abstractions) series. I’d love to bring in color, with either glass or paint. And, I’m thinking about smaller scale architectural forms. Which is how I ended up going back through my images from our extended stay in CDMX last spring. There was something so captivating about the attached 3-4 story multifamily buildings with simple facades that vary endlessly: small dimensional details and set backs, differences in detailing and grates, monochromatic through full color. Would love to explore a series of architectural structures with simple dimensional cues and then play with the vocabulary of windows and doors, grates and screens, textures and paint.

Some quick sketches of what I can imagine…

sketch | facade1 comp1 c Heather Hancock2023

I love the idea of precision cut / painted elements in interaction with concrete textures and surface irregularities. Some color could be paint and other cut in glass.

sketch | facade1 comp2 c Heather Hancock2023

sketch | facade3 comp1 c Heather Hancock2023

fall sketching | looking up

September 11, 2023

Continuing down the path of how to connect nature and architecture in REFLECT.

Took a bunch of looking up city and tree pix for inspo over the weekend. And here’s a next step in thinking about how this could work. The layered leaf concept would be a combination of cut glass and paint. Buildings would be reduced down to cut-able resolution in blue grays. Sky. Matte acrylic. Another approach to looking up, seeing the city.

sketch c Heather Hancock 2023

Meet the Maker | sept/oct luxe

September 05, 2023

So fun to see my art in the Scene section of luxe magazine.

I had a great conversation with writer Laura Hine back in early June. We talked a bit about how to describe my work. I use glass as an inlay within concrete textures, with light interacting differentially with the high gloss glass and matte textures. I think of my work as mixed media or dimensional.

Other things we talked about …

… Dimensional work. I love the object-ness of glass and how light animates that unique material for a dynamic experience.

… Graphic minimalism. evoking place using the least amount of information (ie clean line/crisp edges)

… Urban lens. After a number of years of focusing on cityscapes and architectural forms, I’m using my urban lens to create minimalist natural imagery: vines and foliage, landscapes and views.

Images came from a great photo shoot with Tony Favarula in late June.

fall sketching | REFLECT / low+wide angle looking up

September 05, 2023

I spent the better part of 2 years figuring out how to draw architectural forms with glass. I developed a consistent glass palette. I learned to cut in perspective. I gradually came to understand negative space and how the concrete texture could work as shadow. I got more confident in reducing complexity consistently to get to cut-able resolution of essential elements.

There’s something I’d love to see happen with this precision architectural cutting. Something that gets even closer to the immersive, embodied experience of being in the city. And something that brings nature back onto the canvas. Buildings are incredible looking up from the ground. So are trees. Light filtering through leaves. Could I bring the built world and natural world together in the REFLECT series? In order to do foliage, I’d probably need the whole thing in color.

mock up | looking up Chicago with foliage c Heather Hancock 2023

Although. Wait a minute. How about this. The buildings in grayscale and the foliage in intense color are incredibly beautiful too. And solves the problem of finding the right blues in glass. Interesting.

mock up | looking up Chicago with foliage c Heather Hancock 2023

encode collages | sketching

August 29, 2023

Circling back to ENCODE collages this morning to look again at how text and natural imagery can combine in a dimensional piece that points to the balance between the man-made and the natural in our urban lives.

concept sketch1 | ENCODE: CREATE c Heather Hancock 2023

oncept sketch2 | ENCODE: CREATE c Heather Hancock 2023

oncept sketch3 | ENCODE: CREATE c Heather Hancock 2023

oncept sketch4 | ENCODE: CREATE c Heather Hancock 2023

VISTA: prairie

August 17, 2023

I really enjoyed thinking about prairie imagery for a recent commission (pix soon) and now so many more ideas are swirling. Starting with some sketches with a simplified palette.

drawing VISTA: prairie comp1 concept3 c Heather Hancock 2023

drawing VISTA: prairie comp2 concept3 c Heather Hancock 2023

drawing VISTA: prairie comp3 concept3 c Heather Hancock 2023

And, then abstracting even more. mmmm. LOVE.

OK. When do I get to make these?!!

comp1 prairie concept4 c Heather Hancock 2023

comp2 prairie concept4 c Heather Hancock 2023

coming soon: VISTA prairie

August 03, 2023

I can’t wait to share my latest site-specific piece, combining shimmering cut glass inlay, matte concrete texture, and vibrant paint. A playful graphic abstraction of prairie grasses and wildflowers offers viewers a connection to nature with an imaginary expansive prairie landscape. More soon!

detail VISTA: prairie | 2’ x 5.5’ hand cut glass+texture+paint c Heather Hancock 2023

new solid aluminum edging 1 3/16” off wall for ‘ready to hang’ edged panels

Denver residential install

July 28, 2023

VISTA: CO 2@4’x2’ hand cut glass + texture + paint c Heather Hancock 2023

detail VISTA: CO 2@4’x2’ hand cut glass + texture + paint c Heather Hancock 2023

REFLECT 30” x 20” hand cut glass + texture + paint c Heather Hancock 2023

PEAK each 20”x20”’ hand cut glass + texture + paint c Heather Hancock 2023

PEAK 20”x20”’ hand cut glass + texture + paint c Heather Hancock 2023

glass wall01 4’x1.5’ ’ hand cut glass + texture + paint c Heather Hancock 2023

encode prints on aluminum 12”x12” c Heather Hancock

summer sketching: lake michigan

July 17, 2023

I’d love to do a VISTA composition inspired by Lake Michigan. I always start, and then get stuck, by approaching water and sky as continuous elements in glass. A current WIP gave me the idea to approach those elements in a new way. Sky is easily created using concrete and paint. Clean line glass stringer inlay could create water surface, suggesting waves or ripples.

VISTA | lake michigan v1a c Heather Hancock 2023

VISTA | lake michigan v1b c Heather Hancock 2023

VISTA| lake michigan v2 c Heather Hancock 2023

Shimmer and sparkle on water can be conveyed with simple circles in various sizes, using an iridized white glass for lots of reflectance. Love the high contrast water with the inverted, low contrast backgrounded sky.

summer sketching: desert blooms

July 16, 2023

Another drawing in the VISTA series was inspired by an early spring trip to AZ…and the beginning of a wildflower super bloom.

crop from desert bloom drawing c Heather Hancock 2023

summer projects ... color + line + texture

July 14, 2023

I have a lovely new project in the works. I’m finalizing a new framing plan and then can finish this piece. Can’t wait to see it all together.

crop of drawing VISTA: prairie grass c Heather Hancock 2023

cutting WIP VISTA: prairie grass c Heather Hancock 2023

cutting VISTA: prairie grasses c Heather Hancock 2023 photo credit T. Favarula

encode | create

July 12, 2023

Some sketching to see where ENCODE could go as larger collaged concepts…bringing together hand cut glass inlay, textures and paint. Circling back to a concept for an Art in Architecture submission…how to visually convey the excitement and energy around learning and discovery and innovation. Step 1.

studio portraits and vignettes with Tony Favarula

July 11, 2023

I had fun during a recent photo shoot with Tony Favarula. I need a studio portrait for an upcoming magazine feature (more soon!) so I scheduled a 1/2 day shoot with Tony. Lots of great images to update my website…and maybe I’ll finally get rolling again on insta?!

studio vignette | GROW5.1| photo credit T Favarula 2023

studio vignette | urbanVine in color 20”x20” | photo credit T Favarula 2023

and a couple BTS pix

Urban nature

July 11, 2023

A common theme in my artwork is nature's resilience and grit as it navigates the unyielding structures of the city. Urban weeds and vines, seemingly insignificant, co-opt concrete, brick, and metal as support systems and climbing structures. I find beauty in these unexpected encounters, where nature gracefully adapts to the urban setting.

Using the clean line aesthetic of the built world, recent work explores nature in city.

urbanVine 3.8 | hand cut glass + concrete + paint 20”x20” c Heather Hancock 2022

Nature and urban environments, often perceived as dichotomous, can be harmoniously intertwined. There is a quiet strength in nature's ability to persist and thrive amidst the hard urban environment, and I strive to celebrate this beauty.

urbanVine 3.9 | hand cut glass + concrete + paint 20”x20” c Heather Hancock 2022

urbanVine 3.10 | hand cut glass + concrete + paint 20”x20” c Heather Hancock 2022

glass wall01 | hand cut glass + concrete + paint 4’x1.5’ c Heather Hancock 2023

detail glass wall01 | hand cut glass + concrete + paint 4’x1.5’ c Heather Hancock 2023

Denver residential install | VISTA: CO

June 14, 2023

Denver install is complete. Work from VISTA, REFLECT and PEAK series is all installed. And new work (glasswall01) is hanging in an exterior location on the roof deck. Connecting with both the interior architecture of the space and the broader context of city and mountains, these pieces all fit seamlessly into the property.

VISTA: CO 2@44”x24” hand cut glass inlay + paint c Heather Hancock 2023 residential Denver installation

I was thrilled to find this composition “in the wild” when we hiked near Boulder on Chautauqua/OSMP trails last weekend.

VISTA: CO 2@44”x24” hand cut glass inlay + paint c Heather Hancock 2023 residential Denver installation. photo cred: Nate Polta

Denver residential install | Glass Wall 01

June 11, 2023

Super happy to have a reason to make an outdoor piece. This ‘glass wall’ concept will bring year-round color and interest to this roof deck off the 3rd floor office and stairwell.

glass wall01 | photo cred: Nate Polta 2023

Denver residential install: glass wall01

June 07, 2023

One final piece will be installed once the final details on the roof deck are complete. This playful piece is my version of a ‘living wall’ with glass. Simple shapes flow around a trellis grid.

This piece can be seen from inside the space and is a way to bring no-maintenance color and interest to this fabulous private roof deck (with a little glimpse of mountains!).