Fabulous Opening Reception & Notes to Self

It was a truly fabulous opening reception for my first official solo show, Imagining Mind. What an extraordinary privilege it is as an artist to get to call everyone to "come see." I am so grateful to the many people who took time out of very busy lives to come see and talk art. The room was buzzing with non-stop visiting from the minute I walked in (at some point a gallery attendant came and took my coat and backpack) until the wrap-up 3 hours later—and it wasn’t smalltalk. People wanted the full story behind my aesthetic, concepts and materials. Multiple people wanted copies of my artist statement—when does that happen!? (note to self: have enough copies of your artist statement on hand). It was an amazing cross-section of people from all different times and places in my life and felt like a mini-reunion with many who have followed my work over several years (note to self: have friends lined up to host and connect people). I was so utterly absorbed in conversation and guests' indepth engagement with the work that I didn't manage to get a single picture of the event. Argh!! What 22-year-old would let that happen (note to self: don't designate your husband to take pix)!? So you’ll have to take it from me, it was a magical, buzzing evening filled with good friends, great conversation and my art.

Imagining Mind

Solo Show of recent work at Montgomery Ward Gallery, UIC Student Center East, 750 S. Halsted Street, UIC.

January 10 - February 10, 2011

Opening Reception: Wednesday, January 19, 4-7p

 Realize4 (detail) 24" x 24" glass, gold, grout, paint on wood  :: Heather Hancock 2010

In my work, I re-imagine an ancient medium with traditionally decorative and functional uses as a vehicle for exploring contemporary concepts of cognition, language and social identity. My work asserts the essential meaningfulness of glass as a medium. Glass serves literally as a lens to transmit and focus light, and metaphorically as a channel through which something can be seen or understood.

I use the highly physical and permanent media of glass and grout to explore the ephemeral cognitive experience of attending, perceiving, and comprehending. There are direct links between my material process, creating images from glass fragments, and my meta-cognitive inquiry into the emergence of a unified self from innumerable synaptic connections. The interaction between the media of glass and grout and the intangible medium of light further underscores the significance of both material and immaterial dimensions. Light parallels the transience of a cognitive moment and ensures the dynamic nature of the work across space and time. The permanent is thereby animated by changes in lighting conditions and viewers’ perspectives.

Taken together, the 20 works from three series hanging at the Montgomery Ward Gallery address the constructive process of the cognitive moment. A unified experience or self is constructed from incoherent fragments of sensations and memories. Focused attention forms the basis of our conscious experience and allows us to achieve narrative coherence.

Realize5 (detail) 24" x 24" glass, gold, grout, paint on wood  :: Heather Hancock 2010

Native Indian Artforms

Last summer we took our kids hiking in the Canadian Rockies. Post-hiking, we wandered through tourist shops in Jasper. While the kids did extensive research in the stuffed animal section, I found myself captivated by images of Native Indian art. I briefly contemplated why this caught my attention. But then the moment was gone and I completely forgot about it.

Later in the fall, after posting images of the new series 'Realize' to Facebook, a viewer commented that the work reminded her of WestCoast First Nations art. Native Indian Art was added to my 'To Research' list.

Realize2 (2009) 24" x 24"

When I eventually got around to reading Jim Gilbert's Learning by Designing Pacific Northwest Coast Native Indian Art, I began to understand the underlying concepts and techniques that were catching and holding my attention. Gilbert reviews 3 core concepts in his brief introduction to Native Indian philosophy: 1. Constant change: everything is either coming together or coming apart; 2. Wholeness: all things are inter-related; 3. Pattern: change occurs repetitively in cycles and patterns.

When it comes to art+design theory, Gilbert states that Pacific NW Native Indian artists develop art according to a strict set of rules and principles that govern the organization, compositions and color of work. Once the design system is mastered, the artist has a flexible vocabulary with infinite creative potential. The foundational form is the 'ovoid,' a powerful shape, conveying notions of continuity and contained power. Gilbert traces the evolution of all other forms from the ovoid. Complex exterior formlines, interior design elements, finelines and units are combined to pull the viewer into the self-contained, animated universe of the design.

Things that are staying with me:

1. My abstracted nature-inspired visual language is constantly evolving. I am always looking to expand and extend my vocabulary and love the idea of this endlessly flexible vocabulary.

2. The intentional use of negative space is something that I spend a lot of time thinking about with grout elements. Formlines and interior spaces can remain solid black and are given equal importance in the overall composition to the white or colored design elements, units and finelines. 

3. I see the circle form as one of my "obsessive forms" (an Andy Goldsworthy term) and have watched it change from centered and symmetrical (i.e., Trace (2005) to offset and irregular (i.e., Impel Study1 (2009). This new reading of the foundational ovoid form as conveying contained power and cyclical continuity is so compelling. Gilbert talks about the significance of ovoid form and nonconcentric interior shapes to suggest movement and latent activity that threatens to break out.

4. Depth or perspective is limited or portrayed with simple techniques (ie foregrounded/backgrounded elements) in Native Indian art. Gilbert reads this as intentional and important to avoid losing clarity in the designs. My current work imagines mind and innumerable synaptic connections; my goal is to use depth and layering to imagine the the immense complexity of synaptic connections.

5. I would also love to find the equivalent of the continuous external formline that contains the design. My current work uses the circle frame to demarcate attention or focus or clarity. My search for authentic and coherent exterior formlines continues.

Studio Feature on Strange Closets

I recently had a studio visit with Tate Gunnerson of Strange Closets. Tate is a Chicago area free-lance art+design writer and photographer. We had a great time, covering everything from his recent Italy trip to the concept of emergence. He took tons of images in the studio, creating amazing still-lifes from the minutia in the studio. Here's the write-up that Tate posted on Strange Closets.

Studio Tour Glass Artist Heather Hancock

Art Chicago 2010

To delay the onset of bleary-eyed, sensory overload, I have adopted the 'trawling' technique for navigating large art fairs: moving at a brisk pace, I scan without trying to take it all in and see what jumps out at me.

Certainly, knowing the artist catches my attention.Theodore Boggs and Russ White were showing work with Jettison Quarterly and Brent Houston had a piece in the Swimming Pool Project Space, all part of the NEXT show of emerging galleries.

Generally it is color or unusual abstract forms or interesting surfaces that make me circle back for a second look. And there were two highlights for me at Art Chicago this year. First, I discovered Alex Couwenberg. Couwenberg's compositions are spare with midcentury influences apparent in his forms and precision painted lines. I am always drawn to an artist who has achieved this level of fluency with an abstract visual vocabulary. Couwenberg constructs ordered but complex and vibrantly layered images. Reading up on him, I found that he mentored with Karl Benjamin. Benjamin is associated with the California hard-edge painting, concerned with economy of form, fullness of color, neatness of surface and nonrelational arrangements of forms on canvas.

I was literally scanning the last aisle of Art Chicago when I came across Rex Ray's work. I have only seen his work online and it was great to see his massive, spectacularly detailed canvases up close. This is another artist with an extensive design-influenced abstract visual vocabulary. There's no artist statement on his site, but I've read elsewhere that he creates images that he finds beautiful. Love that.

I am still thinking about the extraordinary craftsmanship of both these artists. I need to research the California 'finish fetish' of the 1970s--the 1970s car culture of Alberta has to be relevant here. And, I will continue on my quest to expand and clarify my visual vocabulary. While forms are evolving, my need to make logical relational arrangements of forms remains central to my work, suggesting that while I have moved away from clinical work based on an intellectualist linguistic model, I am nevertheless still searching for syntax.

Connecting Places: A Glass Mosaic Fireplace Commission

I'm working on one of my biggest--and possibly most challenging--commissions to date.

The project: a floor-to-ceiling glass mosaic element (16" wide) offset behind a woodburning stove. One wall of the room is all windows overlooking the Annapolis Valley and Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, Canada. It's an extraordinarily beautiful landscape with constantly shifting weather patterns sweeping in off the Bay of Fundy or across the island from the Atlantic. The home is built on a mountain and is high enough that the valley literally disappears into the mist when the fog or rainclouds roll in. As the clouds lift this ridiculously beautiful valley is revealed stretching for 20+ miles to the next ridge.

I want the piece to connect to this amazing landscape: the intense greens of lush growth, copper of the iron-rich earth and the blues of water and sky as well as this constant visual phenomena of emerging and disappearing and re-emerging.

I also want the piece to connect with the prairie landscape where my clients--and I--are originally from.

My clients: my parents. These uber-patrons (and parents), have given me full artistic autonomy for this project. I am to make what I want. And, so with that freedom comes great responsibility. Ack! This has to be a fabulous piece that coheres visually and psychologically.

I have decided to use the outline of the tiny, oxbowed, shallow river that flows past our farm in eastern Alberta as the central form in the piece. This form is gorgeous and irregular and constantly changing albeit imperceptibly. I am always aware of change as the only constant. It also points to the notion of being shaped by place. There is inevitable evolution out from a given place: the original form is clearly imprinted but also changing across time, as the river form itself has been changing and evolving over the eons.

Neuroaesthetics

So I have just discovered the Journal of Neuroaesthetics on an awesome site called Artbrain. This is a tremendous relief: there are others out there who obsess about similar things. Like, how attention forms the basis for our interaction with the world; how art changes the brain; how language and thought interact; how aesthetics may augment learning etc. etc. etc.  Wikipedia states that this new subfield was defined in 2002 as the study of "the neural basis for the contemplation and creation of a work of art."

This is exactly where I belong. More as I explore.

Embodied Consciousness

I just happened across "Out of Our Heads" by Alva Noe, Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkley. What a fantastic, accessible read. This all resonates so completely for me. In short, Noe proposes a theory of consciousness as embodied experience, achieved through a combination of perception of and interaction with stimuli in the external world. He moves the discussion of conscious experience past a brain-centric view to one in which the broader domains of body, immediate and extended physical and social contexts are equally important. Brain function alone is insufficient to explain consciousness. We have evolved within physical and social contexts and are therefore uniquely equipped to perceive, interact with and interpret the world we inhabit. While there's clearly still a place for the detailed theories about specific cognitive and linguistic functions, Noe's rejection of a purely intellectualist approach to cognition, language and consciousness feels coherent and meaningful. As a speech language pathologist, neurolinguistic and psycholinguistic models gave structure to the evaluation process, but seemed artificial, rigid and disconnected from the reality of the lives of people when it came to treatment planning. Intervention always needed to start with the individual in context. Only by putting together an individual and their changed neurological system with their full physical and social context was there potential for making meaningful change in lived experience.

Art and Attention

On the Origin of Stories: Evolution, Cognition, and Fiction by Brian Boyd I read On the Origins of Stories this winter and am about to start it again. I highly recommend this book and found that it helped me connect my fascination with cognition and language with my obsession with visual art in an expanded way.  Here's my take-away: Art is about competing for and holding viewers' attention. An artist's goal is to engage an audience and then provide ongoing visual challenge. My work is essentially metacognitive in approach. A preliminary aesthetic connection opens the way for viewer engagement. Encoded conceptual content serves to maintain viewers’ attention across time. Visual art is a powerful or 'hypernormal' visual stimulus that encourages cognitive play and engagement. Thinking beyond what we can see, exploring the world of the possible changes the brain and is potentially critical to adult life. In this way, I see my visual art as being very parallel to my clinical work as a speech-language pathologist.

My thinking on this goes a step further to argue that mosaics in particular have the potential to be an extremely powerful medium. Reflectivity and intense color saturation, literal depth and extreme contrasts, the inherent incorporation of light as an element all make this medium ideally suited to capture visual attention. The question that I constantly required myself to be clear about as a clinician ("why am I doing what I'm doing?") seems equally valid when using this powerful visual medium.

Impel 2

Impel2 (2009) detail :: 24" x 24" :: glass, 24k gold smalti and grout on MDF

Impel2 places cognitive experience within a social context, exploring how connections, interactions, and impingements contribute to the ongoing change and evolution in how we see ourselves in relation to the world.

Impel Photo Gallery | Slideshow

3 pieces published in "Breakout!"

Realize2 (2009) detail  24" x 24" glass, 24k smalti, grout, acrylic paint on MDF

Images of Realize2 (above), Emerge5 and Bend7 (see below) are included in Brit Hammer's most recently published book BREAKOUT! Your Pathway to Success.

BREAKOUT! takes up where Brit Hammer’s best-selling book, Mosaic: Finding Your Own Voice, leaves off—the business aspect of visual art. This book serves as a personal guide for artists in developing a successful art business.

Bend7 (2008) detail 18" x 24" glass, 24K smalti, acrylic paint on wood

Emerge5 (2009) glass, grout, acrylic spray paint on MDF

I submitted these three pieces in response to Brit's international open call for art that is informed by mosaic and mosaic techniques but falls outside the traditional mosaic label in exploring new territory.  Each piece is featured with a 2-page spread.

Brit's book is a great resource for artists, offering a holistic approach to developing an art practice. There is plenty of specific, concrete information about the business of art.  Brit combines this with personal reflection and journaling exercises to encourage a deeper engagement with defining success, finding motivation and following one's passion.

Blog Thought Experiment: Written Language and Cognition

I've been reluctant to blog. There is, at present, a cacophony of voices online. Everyone with a personal spinand perspective competing for everyone else's attention. I've opted out.

But something keeps coming back to me. I am very interested in written language as a tool to extend, organize and clarify thought. Written language allows us to move beyond the present moment to consider the past or anticipate the future, provides a stable, permanent symbolic representation to reflect upon, creates the opportunity for more formal thought in extracting principles from decontextualized ideas, facilitates finding new connections in ideas and information that would otherwise exceed our working memory capacity.

I've always struggled with writing. Somewhere during undergrad, I learned to write in an extremely passive, dense scientific style. I am generally trying to cram my philosophy of everything into each sentence. Writing is arduous enough that my sketchbook/journal is full of written fragments, abbreviated phrases and shorthand. So what happens if I push myself to document what's on my mind in written form using this blog as an external stable memory store. This then is my own personal thought experiment: a test of my belief in the power of external symbolic representations to reflect, extend and expand thought. Here goes.

Emerge series

Emerge is an exploration of the constructive process of consciousness. By means of attending, a coherent conscious moment of being emerges from a fleeting, fluid background of neuronal activity. This moment fades and a new set of sensations come to the fore. These moments of attending take place within contexts--the internal contexts of personal history and perceptions and the external social contexts to which we are so keenly attuned.

Emerge4 (2009) each panel 24" x 24" glass, grout, acrylic spray paint on MDF

Foliage was arbitrarily chosen to create a coherent context. The forms of the shadowed foliage are reduced to their essence by the absence of light. The frame of glass can be read as illumination, parallel to the moment of conscious awareness. Light allows the perception of additional information: color, contrast, depth.

Emerge4 detail (2009) each panel 24" x 24" glass,grout, acrylic spray paint on MDF

Emerge3 (2009) detail 24" x 24" glass, grout, acrylic spray paint on MDF

Emerge lends support to my claim of the inherent symbolic capital of glass as a conceptual medium.  Glass captures and manipulates light, providing a mechanism for incorporating light (reflectance, absorption) as an element in the piece.

Two diptychs from the Emerge series were included in a juried group show in downtown Evanston as part of the Art-Under-Glass program. Different lighting conditions verifies the dynamic nature of the work.

Emerge4 and Emerge5 showing downtown Evanston

Emerge4 and Emerge5 showing downtown Evanston

More images of Emerge series can be seen on Flickr:

Emerge Photo Gallery | Slideshow

Impel splash2 project

Goal.  To create bold and modern mosaic elements for this compact farmhouse kitchen backsplash.  

A larger ceramic field tile was a great way to create a clean, modern, urban look with minimal grout lines.  The client and I both loved this 12.75" x 4.25" rectangle shape in the Dal-Tile Modern Dimensions line.  The 'urban putty' color provided us with a sophisticated neutral surround.  The color palette needed to integrate the mahogany of the cabinets and pull out the terra cotta, cinnamon and burnt sienna tones from the arandis rose granite countertops.  Transparent glass was incorporated to create a sense of fluidity and depth.  Blue color accents were used, invoking both sky and lake from the surrounding natural landscape.

Concept.  Impel is all about movement and change.  Using three mosaic elements gave me a chance to explore this concept in a new way.  The two small insets are each essentially 'portraits' of a single element found in the central inset.  They appear in relative isolation in the small insets and then in a broader context in the center inset.  In the center insets, we see the changes that result from the inherent impingements, interactions and connections in context.

color patterns are developed

Fabrication.  All work is done in my studio.  For this project, I used the double reverse method to avoid using mesh--which would have shown through the transparent glass.  Pieces were individually cut and adhered to sticky shelf liner paper.  This was then face-taped for transportation to the project site.

insets ready for installation

Installation.  Surround tile was installed by professional tile installer Michael Cozzi, Artistic Tile Concepts.  The ceramic surround tile and mosaic insets were adhered to the drywall with thinset.

Michael Cozzi finishing setting the ceramic surround tile

The surround tile was grouted with unsanded oyster gray grout.  I grouted the mosaic insets with sanded charcoal gray.

surround tile is taped off while grouting the mosaic insets

Finished Project.  Proportions work well in this compact kitchen, adding bold visual elements that are in keeping with the scale of this backsplash.  The installation is dynamic dependent on lighting conditions.  Bold direct overhead light brings out the intense color and strong contrasts.  In low light and from angled perspectives the iridescent glass and 24k gold smalti literally gleams, creating a different visual experience.

Impel splash2

Impel splash2 inset detail

Impel splash2 Photo Gallery | Slideshow

Impel splash2

 

The Impel series was used as the conceptual and aesthetic starting point for transforming this simple farmhouse kitchen backsplash with a bold and modern functional art installation.  Mosaic 'windows' in the neutral surround tile offer glimpses of another world.  Transparent glass conveys a sense of fluidity and depth while iridescent and 24k gold smalti ensure reflectance in all lighting conditions.

Additional images of the Impel splash2 installation can be seen at Flickr:

Impel splash2 Photo Gallery | Slideshow

Bend splash2 project

  When I first spoke with this client on the phone, she explained that her kitchen was dark and that her elderly mother had trouble seeing in the space.

I didn't fully understand the extent of the issue until I saw it in person.  Having the same gloss granite on the countertop as on the backsplash made this kitchen a literal blackhole.  No amount of lighting would improve this workspace.  In addition to being impossibly dark, the kitchen was aesthetically out-of-sync with the rest of the main floor in this lovely waterfront townhome which has plenty of natural light, neutral wall coloring and interesting color accents.

The client chose 'Bend' as the starting point for the project.  She selected a neutral matte glass tile in 1" x 6" to coordinate with the wall color in the rest of the main floor space. Three circular mosaic insets were designed to "refract" the lines of mosaic glass and at the same time serve as floating visual markers along the long wall the backsplash.

inset being fabricated on mesh in my studio

Final design work and individual patterns were created for the mosaic insets.  All cutting was done in my studio.  Each inset was fabricated piece-by-piece and adhered to a light-weight fiberglass mesh.  As in all my 'Bend' series work, threaded lines of 24k gold smalti are incorporated to define the forms and ensure the composition remains dynamic.  24k gold smalti is straight from the Orsoni factory in Venice, Italy.  This is the material you've seen on the unbelievably ornate mosaic ceilings of the Italian cathedrals.  And it has been used there for a very important reason:  it catches and reflects light like no other material on earth. This unparalleled reflective material has become an important part of my ongoing quest to create mosaic compositions that remain dynamic--changing with lighting condition or viewpoint.  It works so well in a backsplash which is at times brightly lit from under-cabinet lighting, and at other times, may have no direct light at which point the gold smalti catches whatever ambient light is there and truly gleams.

The circles for the insets were also cut out of the surround tile in my studio--here's where you want precision measurements.

marking the cuts in the surround tile for the mosaic insets

I worked with professional tile installer, Michael Cozzi.   For installation of glass over an existing granite backsplash, Michael roughed the surface and applied a thin layer of thinset in advance of installation.  Grouting was done on 2 separate days. The surround tile was grouted with a matching neutral grout.  I grouted the mosaic insets on another day with a dark charcoal grout, enhancing the strong contrasts within the piece.

mosaic insets and line taped off and ready for grouting

At the time of the installation, the client agreed to extend the straight lines of mosaic glass around the other 2 walls of the kitchen.  This added another day to the project but made for a truly spectacular installation that integrated the entire kitchen.

Kitchen after completion of Bend splash2

Bend splash2 detail

Impel splash1 project

In updating this kitchen, the client chose a gorgeous dark turquoise matte 1" x 3" glass surround tile and specified a palette of greens and blues for the mosaic inset. There are several interruptions and volume changes in this backsplash, so I wanted to develop one intricate, compelling visual focal point with hand-cut mosaic glass.

As I began sketching for this project, the 'Impel' series concept emerged:  the basic impulse to move forward and the consequent changes and evolution in form and contour from interactions, connections and impingements.  This idea of constant change both of ourselves and those around us has become important to me.  Specifically I have been considering the dynamic within a family and the constant change and movement that is inherent to that unit.

After developing the drawing and a pattern, cutting was done in my studio.  Each piece in the mosaic inset is cut individually and adhered to a fiberglass mesh.

Impel splash1 7" x 7" inset ready for installation

The mesh is then installed directly into the thinset at installation.

Impel splash1 mosaic inset and surround tile is affixed to the drywall with thinset

Grouting is the final step in the process and it is always so gratifying to see the whole project come together.

Impel splash1 2009

Their kitchen has a completely refreshed and modern, urban feel to it with the custom functional art installation providing visual interest in a space where they'll spend a ton of time.

Pricing Guide for Custom Mosaic Backsplash

Pricing Guide

The two main variables in pricing an installation are the amount andthe complexity of hand-cut mosaic glasswork in the design. Consider the following project options, each with varying amounts of mosaic glasswork.  These are not actual compositions, just a rough idea of possible scale and price points.  We can find the right proportions for your space and budget.

The price points below are estimates based on a hypothetical 10sf kitchen backsplash.  These are strictly hypothetical projects. We can work to create a fabulous element that fits your unique space and budget.

Mosaic element cost includes design, materials and fabrication of hand-cut mosaic elements.  If you are not working with a designer, I can assist you with the entire project. Total installed cost includes entire project design, mosaic element, surround tile and installation.

Accent. Enliven an everyday area with a precision cut sparkling mosaic inset. 

Mosaic element only:    $1500                                                       

Total installed cost:       $3300 (includes mosaic element, surrounding tile and installation)

Highlight.  Provide a compelling focal point with a vibrant functional art element.

Mosaic element:        $3500

Total installed cost:    $5000 (includes mosaic element, surrounding tile and installation)

Feature.  Define the entire room with an sensational full-scale installation.

Mosaic element:      $6000

Total installed cost:  $7500 (includes mosaic element, surrounding tile and installation)

Impel series

Impel2 (2009) detail

Impel explores our relentless drive to move forward: to see, explore, communicate.  Our experience results in connections, interactions and impingements that contribute to constant change and evolution in how we see ourselves in relation to the world.

The reality of constant change, particularly within a family unit, has become increasingly salient to me. The constant 'bumping' against one another inevitably leads to change. The broader social context introduces another source of variation, shifting and responding to local interactions and also moving and directing activity. Impel attempts to capture the constant movement of a social landscape.

Impel2 (2009) 24" x 24" glass, 24k smalti, grout on MDF

I completed several small-scale pieces to explore the concept and forms in glass.  Working with sheet glass gave me significantly more flexibility in cutting the envisioned forms.  24k gold smalti introduces pinpoints of intense color and reflectance which assist in maintaining a dynamic composition.

Impel sketch1 (2009) detail 8" x 8" glass, 24k smalti, grout on wood

Impel sketch4 (2009) detail 8" x 8" glass, 24k smalti, grout on wood

Impel splash2  (2010) detail  glass, 24k smalti, grout

More images of Impel1 and Impel2 are available here on Flickr:

Impel Photo Gallery | Slideshow