Today we look at various aspects of Hillary Brandeberry’s work: the ‘actual’ objective art, the subjective artist, and the evolution of her art.
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| Green Eye |
Hillary attended Angola High School before moving to Hamilton for her junior and senior years, where she graduated in 2001. Those Hamilton years were formative, in large part thanks to Hamilton art teacher Jeff Ervin. In March of 2001 under the auspices of the Scholastic Art & Writing competition, Hillary won Golden Key and American Vision awards for her work, and won a partial scholarship at St Francis but declined to exercise that option. Beyond high school art class she is self-taught.
In 2006 Hillary produced her first one-woman show at the downtown Fort Wayne Artisan Gallery to raise money for the local Aids Foundation, and has shown a flurry of work in 2011 at the Bent Fork gallery, the Creative Arts Gallery, the first annual Alley Art Battle [all in Angola], at the Arts for the Mind gallery show in South Bend, and at Art Link in Fort Wayne.
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At the Alley Art Battle,
photo by Miriam King |
Hillary’s work is related to photorealism, which begins with underlying photographic information, but which is then transformed by painterly and/or other creative, artistic augmentation, inspiration, etc. In this case, however, the extent of the creative transformations place her work rather outside that genre. Until now, most of her art-related income has come through commissioned portraits, especially children’s portraits, but this year finds Hillary at a crossroads, reaching out in new directions.
This post is longer than most, as there is way more in Hillary’s work than what first meets the eye. To fathom this art and this artist, please join Hillary and me retrospectively in our August 2 interview at Cahoots Coffee Café, 218 West Maumee in Angola. Just two things before we really begin.
First you may want to peek ahead throughout the article at the additional images we will encounter, as if you were wandering through a gallery – that will provide helpful background and perspective throughout the interview. Second, remember we are in Cahoots, so find your favorite mug and fill it up … this is a good brew … relax, open your mind, and enjoy:
Q: Hillary, a bit ago you said “When I was about 17 and met Jeff Ervin, he gave me the freedom and confidence to find my own style and to grow as an artist.” Who is Jeff Ervin, and how did he give you this freedom and confidence?
Hillary: Jeff (Mr. Ervin) was my Hamilton high school art teacher. I’m very shy, so his encouragement meant a lot to me. Basically he recognized my talent and prompted me to enter a lot of art competitions. That kind of recognition and encouragement, first from Mr. Hamilton and then from the competitions, was what I really needed to open up and develop as an artist.
Q: You say “Women are by far my favorite subjects.” Can you talk more about this?
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| Summer |
Hillary: Sure, who doesn’t like to look at women? I love to look at women - they are beautiful, curvy, sensuous, not all hairy like guys ... Shy laugh, slightly embarrassed yet confident in her answer and its content.
Q: Making art is one thing, seeing it is another. What can you say about other people seeing your art? What should people look for and see? What do people look for and see?
Hillary: Long pause, seems to struggle for an answer, then: I really don’t know, it’s something I never think about, I just do it. The individual works are simply my personal therapy sessions. I don’t really have any special meaning for each piece, which may be why I have such a hard time naming them. If I stopped to think about it in those ways, it just wouldn’t work. The art is just what’s inside me, that’s really all I can say.
Q: You say your works are personal therapy sessions. So how does it feel, painting these pieces, from conception, into initial stages, through to the end?
Hillary: In the beginning it’s work - I make myself paint, I know I have to paint so I make myself. Then as it gets under way the anxiety and stress start to dissolve, and ultimately the experience evolves into a state of total absorption.
Q: So you paint women, there is a strong element of personal therapy in these paintings, you are a woman, and there is a strong sexual charge - or at least a very strong sensuous charge in most of these, and as the work gets underway you become totally absorbed … now try to talk more about this … you don’t think about it, but what are you really feeling in these?
Hillary: Again a rather shy, yet confident and assured answer: Women are sensual, we all have that sensual, sensuous side that we mostly hide, but sometimes let it peek out just a bit … but painting, I can just throw it all out there, right onto the canvas …
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| Blue |
Q: About “Blue,” which you are showing now at Artlink in Fort Wayne, you say it is your current favorite: “I am really in love with how it turned out, which I do not say often.” What pleases you most about “Blue?”
Hillary: The colors and their shades. I mix all my colors from the primary colors, that’s not easy to do, and I’m really happy with the colors and their shading this time. Also the eyes, I love the eyes …
Q: OK, but talk about the expression. What is “Blue” thinking? One eye is partially hidden while the other is looking directly out, and that expression, is it a smirk or what? And why? What am I seeing here?
Hillary: Well I guess you’d call it ‘attitude.’ She’s slightly insecure, and the ‘attitude’ is a bit of a cover-up … Maybe that’s kind of like me?
Q: Anything else you want to say specifically about these works? What was your accomplishment in them, how similar/different are they to you, thematically and technically?
Hillary: Well I think you can see which were my early works and which are more recent. For instance, “Pink Panties” was very early, it’s very flat [graphically and emotionally], there’s a lot more dimensionality, complexity, and expression in the others, plus the coloring and shading. So you can see how I have developed since my earlier work.
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| Pink Panties |
Q: You say “Right now I am focusing on becoming more public with my work” and that you want to sell more of these imaginative, non-portrait paintings. Who do you imagine the buyers may be and what is it they may be “buying?” And how will you market this work?
Hillary: I guess buyers would be people who love to look at chicks, but I’m not sure how to “sell” that, I really just paint because I want to, because I need to. These are things I need to figure out.
Stephen here with some post-interview thoughts: At this point I recall a famous quote, "Asking an artist to talk about his[/her] work is like asking a plant to discuss horticulture" [Jean Cocteau, 1889-1963], so let me try to articulate what I feel Hillary’s art is about, while discussing why this is so difficult for both her and me:
These paintings embody personal meditations on and explorations of a vast, complex, and ever-changing feminine psycho/socio/sexual/emotional landscape for which we have no vocabulary. There simply is no grammar or lexicon for expressing personal mood and feeling of this sort: even the words “mood” and “feeling” become inadequate as the meditation/exploration deepens. But some aspects of these subjective landscapes can be reflected in eyes, facial expression, bodily posture, perspective and emphasis, color, clothing, etc, and that is what Hillary does. Ultimately her individual paintings bear a conceptual likeness to the ‘avatars’ you see in Hindu and in other religious art. Avatars are incarnations, embodiments, expressions, etc of the multifaceted aspects underlying some spiritual or metaphysical reality. Hillary lives very close to an ineffable and personal feminine landscape that can be shared only through art ... and what you see here reflects its evolution and maturation to date.
Q: Do you have an internet presence?
Q: What else did you get out of the Alley Art Battle?
Hillary: It was a great experience because it forced me to push myself and finish a painting in one 4-hour sitting. This is huge for me because I will walk away from a painting a hundred times and not finish it for months. I now know I am capable of sitting down, focusing, and completing a quality piece in a day or two or three. Since the event, I have completed two different paintings, each in two days time, that I am very pleased with. I am excited about participating next year!
Since the June Alley Art Battle, public recognition has come phenomenally fast:
· One of her works won the June People’s Choice award at Judy Houk’s Creative Arts Gallery.
· By August 2 she won Three Sisters’ Diana Killian’s admiration, thereby earning space in a next-door Phantom Gallery. · Followed by mention in an August 6 Herald Republican newspaper article …
· And exhibition space in city Hall!
Finally just a few words about the regional setting: I haven’t seen much like this at all in the various Steuben galleries, art fairs, library exhibits, etc, and yet Hillary’s work has been very well received and commented upon in these recent months. What can that mean? Should there be more?
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| Smooch |
Maybe we can better discern the answer by enlarging its consideration: Frankly, there is a LOT of art out on Angola streets that we’ve seen but very little of prior to the August Phantom Gallery Renaissance, and it is generating a LOT of interest and excitement. Every day you see individuals and couples gawking, pointing, taking photos, etc … What a change! What energy!
So my vote is clear: Congratulations Hillary – I wish you continued success, and many thanks for sharing your art and yourself per a very personal and candid Art Beat interview.
Until the next post, know that the Angola area lakes region is an Art Region, and its towns are Art Towns!
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