Hattie: Artist Interview
Written by daybreak on September 10, 2021
Painter Hattie Kauffman will be on-location at the Sacred Circle Gallery and Gift Shop Ballard on 9/11/21 from 6pm to 9pm PST.
“Last year a gallery in California described my work as ‘Neo Impressionist’… which I took as a great compliment mostly because of the word ‘Neo’. Silly
perhaps but really, who’d want to be a Retro Impressionist? To me, every canvas presents a new (neo?) opportunity to explore light, color, texture, movement.
Whether I am painting a landscape, portrait, or still life… the challenge is the same: to create something uniquely alive and uniquely ‘me’ at that moment in time.
Briefly, on the paintings in this exhibit:
Horse Power is my answer to the stiff legged horses of ledger art, caught in a forever pose. I wanted these to be wild, kicking, turning, bursting off the ledger in a stampede of freedom.
Reservation Road reflects that magical feeling you get when you’re almost home after a long time away. So often ‘back to the rez’ can imply back to dysfunction… but this painting is a reminder of the natural beauty, the magic in the very air, of being back on a reservation road.
Paseo Del Norte — How many of our brothers and sisters have died in their struggle to head North? There is no border wall in this painting, no indication of location nor end point visible. There’s just the road leading ever onward … golden clouds the only hint of promise.
Triple Vision Have you ever danced at a pow wow and completely lost yourself in the dance? Someone suggested this is a painting of a dancer’s out of body experience. I see instead the past, present, and future always there, always dancing with us, whether we know it or not.
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