REFLECT 3.6 curved grid

Recent piece in my architectural series. This piece is inspired by the curved grid of Chicago’s Lake Point Tower. The starting point for my art practice is how the human mind is engaged by information in the environment. The natural world gives us perfectly complex and comprehensible information which is fundamentally restorative. In the city we sort through layers and fragments of explicit and implicit information. We filter, decipher and decode and are occasionally rewarded with moments of discovery, surprise and beauty.

REFLECT 3.6 curved grid | hand cut glass inlay 48”x30” c Heather Hancock 2020

DETAIL

REFLECT | Cadence

A new commissioned architectural piece is headed to its home in AZ. REFLECT is inspired by our everyday experience of moving through the city. Light and shadow play across architectural surfaces offering moments of surprise and discovery.

rendering of completed piece for new home

The client has a new architect designed home under construction. The client had a vision of an abstract architectural rhythm connecting with the clean lines of their new home. The client provided architect renderings to help visualize the space and determine optimal size and proportions. We worked remotely to identify an overall approach and then the client selected the final composition from a curated set of options.

REFLECT 4.4 | Cadence 56” x 30” hand cut glass + concrete

Architectural rhythms are realized by our embodied interaction with predictable material elements and ambient light. Our own movement and visual perception completes the dialogue, creating a comprehensible and grand cadence.

[detail] REFLECT 4.4 | Cadence 56” x 30” hand cut glass + concrete

REFLECT 4.4 | Cadence 56” x 30” hand cut glass + concrete

Here’s a quick recent interview with Lisa Degliantoni Executive Director of Evanston Made.

encoded optimism

A new collection, ENCODE, has been taking shape in the studio since last fall. I wanted this series to feature the industrial textures of concrete that I find extremely satisfying.

ENCODE grow may 13 | 20” x 20” | glass + paint c Heather Hancock 2020

My work depends on the strong textural contrast of shimmery glass against matte grout to highlight the dynamic nature of glass. At the same time, I love that sanded, varied matte texture of concrete as a material in its own right.

In ENCODE the variations in the concrete surface contrast with the precision of etched lines and cut glass. Abstracted words of optimism and hope and strength are cut in glass and inlayed in the matte grout. A painted element brings in playful color and form. Different lighting conditions and viewer motion make for infinitely variable views.

new collection in progress | ENCODE

I’ve been thinking about an approach that falls somwhere between my architectural abstractions/REFLECT and graphic/text abstraction series/SCAN.

ENCODE | DETAIL WIP glass+paint+concrete texture 20”x20” c Heather Hancock 2020

We thrive in engaging environments. I’ve always believed this—and it’s more true than ever right now.

ENCODE features shimmering hand cut glass alongside matte industrial textures with a bold painted circle.

Glass encodes abstracted words that reflect the positive mindset I’ve been cultivating during this challenging time. I take plenty of artistic freedom with letter forms to develop each unique and coherent composition.

Intertwined letter forms also refer to how we are surrounded by information—alerting, directing, constraining, expressing. Additional information is encoded in the negative space of etched concrete and painted graphic elements. Interactions between matte and gloss surfaces with light creates the final layer of information, an ever-transforming visual experience.

So much to explore here! More coming soon.

ENCODE v3 20”x20” mixed media glass + paint

detail ENCODE 2.3 20”x20” encoded optimism c Heather Hancock 2020

New project | CITYscape

I’m excited to re-visit my CITYscape series for my next project.

A consistent theme in my work is finding moments of urban beauty. My REFLECT series explores the impact of urban line, rhythm and materials at close range. CITYscape takes a more distant vantage point to see the natural composition of city skylines. Buildings at a distance become rhythms and repetitions, abstracted from the detailed richness of windows and architectural elements. Skyline views generally highlight a city’s connection with the natural world. Water, urban forests and sky balance the repetitive and segmented built world.

CITYscapes first started with work I made as visuals for a book on Marcel Proust and the neuroscience of smell. I created Proust’s village of Combray with rudimentary building forms, approaching them as a sort of font. They read as an ambiguous grayscale font in the first piece and then bloom into a full color memory of the village in the second.

MADELEINES | CITYscape as font

COMBRAY | CITYscape as font

The next commissioned project for a lobby in downtown Evanston features the city’s urban forest and connects to the building’s foliage inspired architectural ornamentation. The imaginary city composition features Lake Michigan’s blues in tech inspired graphic lines.

CITYscape Evanston | commission for building lobby 2@30”x30” hand cut glass and concrete c Heather Hancock 2015

In 2016 I created an imaginary San Diego skyline for placement in a healthcare facility. The buildings evolved to be composite forms based on actual San Diego downtown buildings. A lush palette of grass+lime green and turquoise+peacock blue connects with the space colorways.

CITYscape San Diego skyline 3@24”x24” | hand cut glass and concrete c Heather Hancock 2016

The next CITYscape project completed in 2018 features silhouetted buildings from the San Francisco skyline with simple facade detailing. The background “sky” was inspired by a gum tree leaf form and cut in iridized green/blue glass to create a shimmery dual purpose forest+sky.

CITYscape San Fran 3@24”x24” | hand cut glass and concrete c Heather Hancock 2018

I am now working on a CITYscape project based on the Upper West Side skyline as seen from Central Park reservoir. At 4’x3’, these 3 panels allow much more intricate architectural elements and segments. I love the idea of using glass as a stand in for natural, dynamic/reflectant elements. The foregrounded water in this project will be a shimmery reflection of tree and buildings. Lighter grout and a painted sky create additional new creative opportunities for this project. Check back for WIP updates. Or follow along on Instagram @heatherhancock.art.studio

drawing | CITYscape 3@4'x3’ c Heather Hancock 2020

detail of CITYscapeNYC 3@48”x36” | hand cut glass + paint c Heather Hancock 2020

detail of CITYscapeNYC 3@48”x36” | hand cut glass + paint c Heather Hancock 2020

Contrast | Light<>Dark

Light <> dark background contrast is another key element in the aesthetic impact of my work. Light glass against a dark matte background creates a bold and striking visual experience.

I still remember the undergrad psychology lecture—I came to my art practice via a first career in healthcare as a speech language pathologist—when I first learned about Hubel and Wiesel’s groundbreaking research into visual perception. They found that the human visual system is engineered to respond to areas of high contrast. “Edges”—areas with highest change in luminance—are information rich and therefore more attention is allocated to processing these areas.

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Ramachandran and Hirstein connected this understanding of cognitive architecture to aesthetic experience, identifying contrast as one of the key elements in the brain’s processing of art in their 1999 article Science of Art: Neurological Theory of Aesthetic Experience (Journal of Consciousness Studies, 6, No. 6-7, 1999, pp. 15–51).

I generally use black grout as a default high contrast background for glass elements. Given how glass palettes—unlike paint—are highly discontinuous in terms of color saturation with huge gaps in gradations there is value in adopting dark/high contrast background and then finding the glass saturations that offer the biggest visual impact. I have also adopted an approximation of grayscale shading using black matte grout as the absence of light to create dimension and perspective in architectural work.

There are other projects where “clean and bright” is the goal and light/pale gray backgrounds accomplish this beautifully. A light background requires a re-thinking of creative goals and visual impact. Contrast can essentially be inverted with dark/saturated glass popping against a pale gray background and creating a bright, bold visual experience.

pale gray grout with dark+saturated glass | Mountains 5@12”x30” c Heather Hancock 2016

detail | Mountains pale gray FROST grout c Heather Hancock 2016

sneak peek | detail from recent commission using pale gray RAIN grout c Heather Hancock 2020

Or low contrast background can offer a softer, floaty effect. Recent conversations with art consultants around the country suggest that this might be a good option for healthcare settings where hard contrasts and edges may be contraindicated. The overall effect is very clean and bright. Lots to explore with low contrast ideas.

Hand held samples are available for client meetings to demonstrate the difference in high vs low contrast background.

8”x8” glass+concrete hand held sample | high vs low contrast background

CITYscape SPRING | pale gray FROST grout c Heather Hancock

Contrast | Texture

One of the key aesthetic elements of my work is contrast. Contrast varies in my work along two dimensions: texture and dark/light background.

I’m forever inspired by the ubiquitous concrete grid context of the urban world providing a textured canvas for light and color and form.

Concrete provides the ideal industrial, matte contrast to shimmery glass. The contrast of ‘no shine’ within a composition is key to appreciating the full dynamic quality of glass. Without that matte stillness in the piece, the luminance of glass becomes overwhelm. Shine/no-shine creates interesting visual information. This is amplified by light and motion for an endlessly variable visual experience. Matte concrete infill is the final step in the process with my work once all glass is hand cut and set in mortar bed.

detail | Scan+ 2.2 hand cut glass with matte grout 20”x20” c Heather Hancock 2020

detail | Scan+ 2.3 hand cut glass with matte grout 20”x20” c Heather Hancock 2020

Scan+ 2.0 series 20”x20” hand cut glass + matte concrete c Heather Hancock 2020

Color rhythms

I love it when projects bring together previous ideas and palettes in new ways.

The next project in the studio is a commissioned 3 panel visual feature featuring a bold glass-forward color rhythm with an inset of text forms. Client relevant information is incorporated in text form and their graphic chevrons are cut in glass.

I’ve seen the chevron as a short hand signifier for movement and motion and momentum. I created sketches a number of years ago using a color rhythm with chevron as negative space.

CITY | 14”x14” hand cut glass c Heather Hancock

CITY 2.1 22”x22” hand cut glass c Heather Hancock

I’m loving coming back to the chevron shape—this time hand cut in glass—and color rhythm and also integrating my SCAN concept with inset text elements with content relevant to the client’s team.

WIP | 3@48”x36” hand cut glass c Heather Hancock 2020

Embracing the materials of contemporary architecture—glass and concrete—my work captures the energy of the urban environment. I use glass because of its unique capacity to catch light and engage viewers.  The interplay of glass and light is ephemeral but the pieces themselves are enduring.

Structural Rhythms | REFLECT series

REFLECT is inspired by finding beauty and information in the urbanscape. With Mies’ perfectly distilled vocabulary viewers immediately understand construction materials and structural system. Approaching facades as information, I use a desaturated approach to isolate the basic unit of information that interacts with light and motion to offer endlessly intriguing rhythms. 

REFLECT 1.36 Mies abstraction 24”x24” hand cut glass inlay matte concrete c Heather Hancock

REFLECT 1.24 Mies black grid 24”x24” hand cut glass inlay matte concrete c Heather Hancock

REFLECT 1.19 Mies black grid 24”x24” hand cut glass inlay matte concrete c Heather Hancock

hand held samples | because it has to be seen in person

I am well aware of how important it is to see my work in person. Holding a sample in your hand you immediately understand how glass interacts with light and movement; how matte concrete offers an important textural contrast to shimmering glass; how surprisingly light the work is. You understand how the surface imperfections of glass and hand cutting makes the work accessible and engaging.

SCAN+ 8”x8” hand held sample

I now have 8”x8” samples available for client meetings and presentations.

• black and white sample of REFLECT/architectural abstractions

• color sample of SCAN+GROW/geometric abstractions

Custom boxes arrived this week to frame the samples, providing a clean edge and way to handle the pieces easily. Gotta say. I love the magnetic close.

8”x8” hand held sample REFLECT | architectural abstraction

8”x8” hand held sample SCAN + GROW | abstracted geometrics

Let me know if you need a sample to make a final decision or for your client meeting.

New ideas | Urban vocab

New work is in progress in the studio. Working title for the series is ‘urban vocab.’ The work is an integrative series that pulls together elements from all three of my series—REFLECT, GROW and SCAN—to address a recurring theme for me: urban meets nature. Rooted in EO Wilson’s 1986 concept of biophilia, I have a strong belief in the importance of staying connected to the natural world. We thrive on the multi-sensory stimulation and dynamic embodied experience found in the information rich natural world. The built world provides a qualitatively different, arguably less robust experience. Nonetheless the hard-edged line and form, predictability and repetition of the urbanscape is an integral part of our daily visual experience. To avoid the typical cliches with cut glass—and as a work around for technical limitations—I use urban line+form as visual analogy for natural forms. Viewers are offered an information set that requires cognitive engagement to translate additional non-literal meaning and in so doing the viewer is invited to co-create the visual experience.

urban vocab | 20”x20” mixed media with glass c Heather Hancock 2019

With this new series, I’m re-thinking grout as both a lovely urban concrete texture and as a canvas for painted elements to interact with hard-edged glass. The ubiquitous natural world appears as a transient, light- and motion-activated element in gloss varnish.

Pulling abstracted text, built world and natural elements into a single composition leads to both simplicity (ie negative space) and complexity (ie layering). Three simple color palettes and two contrast options (high contrast black matte concrete or low contrast silver matte concrete) create endless potential for unique hangings of these bold and playful 20”x20” pieces.

urban vocab | 20”x20” mixed media with glass c Heather Hancock 2019

urban vocab | 20”x20” mixed media with glass c Heather Hancock 2019

SOFA Chicago

I enjoyed an art-filled weekend at Navy Pier for SOFA Chicago.

Brand new work in my Reflect/architectural series was shown by Ken Saunders Gallery.

Ken Saunders Gallery at SOFA Expo Chicago 2019

Reflect 3.9 EDGE 2@48”x30” hand cut glass inlay c Heather Hancock 2019

These urban abstractions are inspired by our everyday experience of moving through the city. Light and shadow play across architectural surfaces offering moments of surprise and discovery. I am inspired by the vibrancy and information I notice in the world around me. The fluidity and constant transformations in the natural world contrast with the predictable segments and hard transitions I find in the cityscape. Light connects these two worlds, bringing both clarity and complexity to the everyday.

Ken Saunders Gallery | SOFA Expo Chicago 2019

Reflect 3.9 EDGE 2@48”x30” hand cut glass inlay c Heather Hancock 2019

Susie Silbert presented work on a number of artists in the current New Glass Now exhibition at Corning. Susie talked about my previous career in healthcare as a speech language pathologist and how it informs my exploration of vocabularies of architecture and urban spaces.

Susie Silbert | Curator of Modern and Contemporary Glass at Corning Museum of Glass

Reflect 3.2 Curve | at New Glass Now Corning Museum of Glass

yep. I had a great time at SOFA. : )

Grow 1.0 | digital prairie

Enjoyed coming back to GROW 1.0 this week for a small piece. This version of prairie is inspired by seeing the stems and leaves in circuit board lines. It makes my prairie girl heart happy : )

GROW 1.5 hand cut glass inlay 15x24 c Heather Hancock 2019

detail | GROW 1.5 hand cut glass inlay 15x24 c Heather Hancock 2019

GROW 1.5 hand cut glass inlay 15x24 c Heather Hancock 2019

GROW | biophilic design

I’ve loved coming back to GROW with some new directions. My ‘ivy on concrete’ wall has evolved to include abstracted text forms and an expanded role for the matte grout as a canvas for etching + varnish elements.

Grow 4.1 48”x30” hand cut glass inlay c Heather Hancock 2019

GROW 4.1 is ready for installation at a Chicago law firm. The firm’s design incorporates biophilic design elements (including potted plants and a living wall). Looking forward to seeing this piece installed as part of their contemporary art program.

Grow 4.1 48”x30” hand cut glass inlay c Heather Hancock 2019

The client opted for a lower contrast iron gray grout for this project. This gives a true concrete look and allows the etched elements to be more visible.

WIP | 1/8” glass is embedded in 1/16” thinset bed.

Just add light. GROW is happy in any lighting conditions.

GROW 4.1 detail

KIAF SEOUL

My work has made it around the world to Seoul. First stop: Korean International Art Fair at the end of September. This five day international art fair hosts 175 galleries from 17 countries and this year a record 82,000 visitors.

Gallery Sklo included my work in their crisp white and gray booth.

Urban abstractions from my REFLECT series are inspired by our everyday experience of moving through the city. Light and shadow play across architectural surfaces offering moments of surprise and discovery. The work explores the vibrancy of the cityscape understood as light and shadow, repetition and variation, information and chaos.

Ms Kim, Gallery Sklo and Andrew Bae, Andrew Bae Gallery

All photos courtesy of Gallery Sklo.

Beauty in Structure

I found some time over the summer to experiment with compositions featuring structural elements. I am always on the look out for coherent built world lines. Trusses and structural beams might be the ultimate in coherent lines. Inspired by the modernist structural beauty at McCormick Place, these studies explore the visual interest (and beauty) of structural elements.

Reflect 1.58 and Reflect 1.57 | Truss studies | each 24”x24” mixed media with glass inlay c Heather Hancock 2019

For years I have noticed the pop of orange pipes weaving through the trusses when driving past on Lake Shore Drive. This created the opportunity to experiment with introducing a color element into this series.

Reflect 1.59 | Truss study 3 | 24”x24” mixed media with glass inlay c Heather Hancock 2019

Looking forward to more in this series.

Grow | organic abstractions for biophilic design

I came to my art practice with a strong interest in biophilic design. Having worked in healthcare for more than a decade, I am well aware of the importance of natural views and light, organic shapes and forms to well-being. EO Wilson’s concept of our innate attunement to the natural world has been widely adopted as an important restorative element in our urbanized lives.

Grow | urban vine 15”x24” handcut glass alongside matte black grout c Heather Hancock 2019

Growing up on the Canadian prairies I was surrounded by spare natural beauty. I’ve learned to find similarly spare, hard beauty in Chicago’s urban landscape. Setting glass alongside industrial materials such as grout, cement and metal points to the contrast between the natural and manmade worlds and creates tension between light and dark, brilliance and opacity, vibrancy and restraint, fragility and permanence.

Grow offers abstracted organic shapes alongside urban line and texture for a bold visual element relevant to biophlic design. Hand cut glass shimmers and shifts for an engaging visual experience.

Scan | healthcare imagery

rendering Scan with client relevant content+imagery embedded | 2@48”x30” c Heather Hancock 2019

This invited design proposal incorporated content and imagery relevant to the clients in a health+wellness related space. Biological systems and synapses appear in abstract form alongside key words from the clients’ mission statement.

synapses + biological systems encoded along with client’s mission words