8”x 8” hand held sample | ENCODE
8”x 8” hand held sample | ENCODE
8”x 8” hand held sample | REFLECT/architectural
8”x 8” hand held sample | REFLECT/architectural
It’s hard to explain glass using static images. Hand samples are available for client meetings. Get in touch about your project.
I love when ideas intersect in new ways. My core interest is the aesthetics of information. In current work information-rich nature gets reduced to simple graphic versions, borrowing “built world” lines to convey natural imagery. City environments tend to be either information overwhelm—signage, street markings, infrastructure, material transitions, sanctioned and unsanctioned painting+markings, etc.—or uninteresting repetition, patterned or chaotic. I am interested in the compelling form of diverse kinds of information: textural/tactile, matte vs glossy/reflectance, structural, semantic, spatial, natural.
A recent idea board explores integrating REFLECT/architectural work and SCAN/abstract text forms into a dimensional urban collage. Recent technical discoveries with my ENCODE series free me to explore lovely minimalist compositions.
Love this approach and can’t wait to try something like this.
About a year and a half ago I made hand held samples available for client meetings and it has been a game changer. I always say that glass is “alive.” Holding a sample in hand, a viewer immediately understands how glass flickers and shimmers as it (or the viewer) moves around. Seeing glass in person also helps understand that the work is dimensional, on its way to sculptural. I consistently hear back from art consultant partners that samples make all the difference in conveying the ‘specialness’ of glass to clients, something that is so challenging to capture in static images.
Get in touch if you need samples for client meetings.
Thrilled to see my ENCODE and REFLECT series in dialog. Techniques and approaches I’ve developed with ENCODE are driving new ideas for my REFLECT series.
Leave it to me to make work that is super hard to photograph. I love the subtlety of the ‘embossed’ grout-on-grout elements on the top corner. From a distance it looks like neutral texture. You gotta get close to see the full detail. Lots to explore with this approach.
detail REFLECT 6.1
ENCODE 3.8 ACT | REFLECT 6.1 | 20”x20” hand cut glass + texture c Heather Hancock 2022
January has been a month for exploring ideas and testing techniques. I have been thinking about how my two main groups of work, REFLECT and ENCODE, are related. Both series approach city as communication. REFLECT focuses on the vocabulary of architecture and the viewer’s role in perceiving the repetition and rhythms. ENCODE finds beauty in abstracted text forms, fragments of words and ideas, pointing to the ubiquitous signage, markings in the city. I can see these series will begin to interact.
detail | Reflect 6.1 2022
REFLECT 6.1 20”x20” urban layers
I’m excited to be thinking about my biggest project yet.
I am developing concepts for a reception desk in a hospital. The clients have requested my interpretation of their rolling landscape. I’m enjoying the challenge of using my “precision line” approach for a landscape concept. My goal is to let glass speak for itself within a minimalist composition that offers a moment of beauty and interest in a busy healthcare environment.
I love coming full circle back to healthcare with my artwork. Much of the initial inspiration and impetus for my creative practice comes directly from working in hospitals. Thinking about how profoundly our physical surroundings impact our well-being led to my interest in exploring how art can be a powerful element in creating inviting, interesting spaces.
prelim sketching | approach to landscape c Heather Hancock 2022
Made some fun Christmas cards this year. Gotta remember this for next year…and maybe start a bit before Christmas Eve next year!
Every year I love experimenting with a new ornament idea. Over the years there are have been painted mirrors, layered silver paper, and various attempts at folded paper. This year I wanted to do something with my translucent film that would transmit and reflect light. My son Milo has a 3D printer and designed the ornament holders w integrated hangers. Fun.
i often get asked about art influences. The natural world is a constant source of inspiration with constant change and transformation. Another big source of inspiration is the random small moments I find in the city around me. Lines, materials, patterns, transitions that catch my eye. I have made it a habit to ‘notice what I notice’ even if I don’t always understand why. Here are few recent random finds.
Encode 5.2 framed print | 8”x8” print in 12” gallery frame c Heather Hancock 2021
These prints pull together so many of my longstanding fascination with finding beauty in the cityscape. Fragments of materials and information, textures and transitions, repetition and predictability intersect with powerful and resilient nature. All is in flux on different time cycles. These little urban portraits capture some of the random and vibrant quality of cities.
Encode 3.36 + E3.35 grow | each 20”x20” hand cut glass + concrete c Heather Hancock 2021
Encode 3.19 + 3.21 build 20”x20” hand cut glass + concrete c Heather Hancock 2021
ENCODE series @ 20”x20” hand cut glass + concrete c Heather Hancock 2021
Playing with mixing grayscale, textured pieces with the playful popping color pieces.
It’s been an incredibly long beautiful fall. Fall color is still catching my eye whenever I’m out walking.
Yay! A new collection of prints is now available. Loving these glossy prints on film and glassine. Somehow they’re both bold and ephemeral at the same time. On a wood print stand, any amount of light makes them glow. Or they stay bold and saturated when framed with a bright white mat.
Every time I come back to these I see a new idea to explore and they keep evolving in such a fun way.
Scan/MOVE 10 panels @6’x1.5’ hand cut glass + concrete c Heather Hancock 2021 | photo credit Art Matters
Exciting to see my work at a larger scale for a recent lobby installation project. The composition used abstracted versions of the clients’ core value “MOVE” translated into ten global languages. A rhythm of intricate cut glass is balanced with simple glass color rhythms using the clients’ corporate palette.
Scan/MOVE 10 panels @6’x1.5’ hand cut glass + concrete c Heather Hancock 2021 | photo credit Art Matters
Scan/MOVE 10 panels @6’x1.5’ hand cut glass + concrete c Heather Hancock 2021 | photo credit Art Matters
ENCODE | 2@20”x20” hand cut glass, concrete texture,
I’ve been continuing to explore print ideas that connect with my interests in line + light. I love the versatility of printed versions of my work. Turns out it’s a helpful tool for experimenting with ideas and directions. And, then it’s satisfying to find new ways to catch light.
1.Fine art prints on paper with hand touched gloss elements.
Giclee print | ENCODE: THRIVE on 100% archival cotton rag c Heather Hancock 2021
encode: THRIVE 8”x8” print on 100% archival cotton rag c Heather Hancock 2021
2. Digital prints on translucent film.
After my tests with printing on vellum revealed the need to find moisture resistant papers, I got some translucent screen printing film. This is super versatile material that allows light to pass through the prints. Backlit prints glow, kinda like glass + light.
Digital print | ENCODE: CHILL on translucent film 8”x8” c Heather Hancock 2021
3. Digital prints on aluminum.
I tried printing on a number of more permanent, rigid substrates: acrylic, wood and brushed aluminum. My favorite by far was using reveals of the brushed aluminum to shimmer and catch light, much like glass functions in my original art pieces. These are light and easily hung. Working digitally gives endless flexibility with creating sets and series of work in target colorways. Super exciting.
Digital print | ENCODE: GO on brushed aluminum 12”x12” c Heather Hancock 2021
Digital print | ENCODE: GO on brushed aluminum 12”x12” c Heather Hancock 2021
