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My work speaks of the energy of nature. The current of the water, the flow of the air over us, the rock formations that form the foundation under our feet and the movement of those foundations. The natural world is very simply alive. It is nothing to be taken for granted. It is as much a part of us, as our circulatory system. 'Nature is on the inside.' Cezanne ________________________________________________________________ Growing up on a farm, Hart absorbed the natural world around her small child, self. A backpack filled with empty jars, Golden Guide Books on Insects, Plants and Birds, she spent all of her days studying the beauty, the transience, the processes and cycles, the details of construction in nature. Hart has come to realize that few people have her background. In her early years on the farm, she spent all the daylight hours in nature. She wandered the family farm and the adjoining farms of neighbors. It was more than 1500 acres of countryside and farmland. In these surroundings, she became attuned to the natural world in a way that seems more connected to earlier societies, than with our present day world. She intuited natural processes that are just now being ‘discovered’ by modern scientists. Hart understood the infinity of space, the insignificance of man, the transient nature of life, and the omnipotent power of the life force of nature. This was at the age of ten. After spending her young adult life absorbed with nature and art (museums, printmaking, and mixed media), Hart pursued a career in landscape design and installation. She approached this as an art form. Transforming spaces by moving large amounts of soil, large boulders to hold in river banks, adding dry laid stone paths and walls, or brick, building structures for the garden (breezeways, pergola, gates, etc), and planting 25’ trees down to the smallest of perennials. The boxwoods became Noguchi sculpture, the layering of plants juxtaposed with the man made elements became a painting framed by views from the windows. It is with this knowledge that Hart paints. Using oil, and charcoal, every painting is an attempt to reunite with an existence symbiotic with the natural world. Her paintings are abstract landscapes. _________________________________________________________________ Studying at the Art Institute of Chicago, the San Francisco Art Institute, with Anne Truitt, Vera Berdich, and Ed Pashcke, among others, and studying at Northwestern in art history and biology has made a strong background for Hart’s devotion to the arts. She has attended artist residencies across the country, Oxbow, Morris Graves Foundation, and Seaside. In 2017-18, Hart was awarded a fellowship to attend Vermont Studio Residency. _________________________________________________________________ One recent reviewer said of her work: “Her compositions are strong, her color usage muted but glowing, and everything from tree trunks to leaves to water and air has a heavy, chiseled look with consistent paint application that announces in no uncertain terms that we are looking not at illusory pictures but at solid layers of paint on a flat surface. It may be old fashioned of me to say it, but that’s what painting is all about.” GALLERY AFFILIATIONS
Harris Harvey Gallery – Seattle, WA Smith and Vallee Gallery– Edison, WA Slate Gallery – Oakland, CA Spokane Art Museum – Spokane, WA EDUCATION 1970-1979 Northwestern University, Art Institute of Chicago, San Francisco Art Institute. Studied under Anne Truitt, Vera Berdich, Ed Paschke, and Alex Castro. ARTIST RESIDENCIES - AWARDS 2020 SW Juror's Merit Award, SW Juried Show, Leonor R. Fuller Gallery at SPSCC, Olympia, Wa, juror: June Sekiguchi. Juror’s Merit Award Show, Leonor R. Fuller Gallery at SPSCC, Olympia, WA, juror: Dawna Holloway, gallerist/curator, Studio e. Curator, Seattle, WA. 2019 Seattle Art Fair, represented by Smith & Vallee, Seattle, WA. Anacortes Arts 'Festival Award,' Anacortes Arts Festival, Anacortes, WA. Juror, Joanna Sikes, director of MoNA, LaConner, WA. Juror’s Merit Award, Leonor R. Fuller Gallery at SPSCCC, juror: Dawna Holloway, gallerist/curator, Studio e. Curator, Seattle, WA. Guest Curator for Ryan James Gallery, Kirkland, WA. Featuring Galen Garwood. 2018 Juror’s Invitational Show, Leonor R. Fuller Gallery at SPSCCC, Olympia, WA, juror: Amy McBride, Tacoma Art Museum Curator. 2017 Juror’s Merit Award, Leonor R. Fuller Gallery at SPSCC, juror: Amy McBride, Tacoma Art Museum Curator. Olympia, WA. Vermont Studio Center Fellowship Award , Johnson, VT. 2016 Escape to Create Artist Residency, Seaside, FL. Residency and Salon. 2015 Morris Graves Foundation Residency, Loleta, CA Spokane Visual Arts Award, a monetary award connected with the Spokane Museum of Arts and Culture; inclusion in the Museum collection. 2000 Kentucky Women Artists Award, second runner up. 1979 Oxbow Artist Residency, Oxbow Artist Colony, Saugatuck, MI. SOLO/DUO EXHIBITS 2023 Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA. 2021 'Song of the Earth.' Spokane Museum of Arts and Culture, Helen South Alexander Gallery, Spokane, WA Harris Harvey Gallery, Seattle, WA. Carillon Point, Kirkland, Wa, curated by Malayka and Tom Gormally of Gormally Consultants, Seattle, WA. concept and core planning: 'Cathedral of the Sacred,' A Full Sensory Installation. Collaboration with Janice Arnold. Leonor R. Fuller Gallery at SPSCC, Olympia, WA. Canceled for Covid. 2020 Virtual Show. Harris Harvey Gallery, Seattle, WA. 2019 Harris Harvey Gallery, Seattle, WA. Smith&Vallee Gallery, Bow, WA. Gallery 110, Seattle, WA. OAP Gallery, Port Haddock, WA. 2018 Tacoma Community Gallery at Gig Harbor, Tacoma, WA. Pierce College Gallery, Lakewood, WA. Gallery 110, Seattle, WA. Lower Columbia College, Longview, WA. All Sort's Gallery , Olympia, WA. Washington Department of Ecology Gallery, Olympia, WA. 2017 Cobalt Gallery, Mendocino, CA. Tim Carmody Gallery, Fort Bragg, CA. 2015 The Ancients, Washington Arts Center, Olympia, WA. 2014 Washington Department of Ecology Gallery, Olympia, WA. 1999 Lexington Public Library Gallery, Lexington, KY. 1998 Mixed Media Meditations. President’s Room, University of Kentucky, Singletary Center for the Arts, Lexington, KY. 1984 501 Gallery, Eugene, OR. SELECTED GROUP SHOWS 2021 'Vast,' an invitational. Smith&Vallee, Bow, WA. 'Birdland," an invitational. Smith&Vallee, Bow, WA. SW Juried Merit Show, SPSCC Leonor R. Fuller Gallery at SPSCC, Olympia, WA., juror: June Sekiguchi. SW Jurors Invitational Show, Leonor R. Fuller Gallery at SPSCC, Olympia, WA., juror: June Sekiguchi. 2020 Seattle Art Fair invitation (canceled due to Covid), represented by Harris Harvey, Seattle, WA. Harris Harvey group show, Harris Harvey gallery, Seattle, WA. SW Juried Merit Show, SPSCC Minnaert Gallery, curator/gallery owner of Studio E, Dawna Holloway. Olympia, WA. 2019 Seattle Art Fair, representing Smith&Vallee, Seattle, WA. SW Juried Invitational, SPSCC Minnaert Gallery, curator/gallery owner of Studio E, Dawna Holloway. Olympia, WA. Anacortes Arts Festival Juried Art Show, curator of MoNA, Joanna Sikes. Anacortes, WA. Tacoma Community College Gallery, Tacoma, WA. Olympia Court House, Olympia, WA. Gray Sky Gallery, Seattle, WA. 2018 OAP, Port Haddock, WA. Tacoma Community College Gallery, Tacoma, WA. Northwind Art Center, Port Townsend, WA. SW Washington Juror’s Invitational. SPSCC Minnaert Gallery, Olympia, WA . Juror: Amy McBride, Tacoma Art Museum Curator. Olympia, WA. 2017 'Strokes of Genius.' Maryland Federation of Arts, Juried Exhibit. Juror: Susan Behrends Frank, Ph.D. The Phillips Collection. Annapolis, MD. Anacortes Arts Festival, Art at the Port Juried Exhibition. Juror: Pablo Schugurensky. Anacortes, WA. SW Washington Juried Invitational. Juror: Amy McBride, Tacoma Art Museum Curator. Olympia, WA. 2017 Smith&Vallee Gallery Anniversary Show, Edison, WA. 2016 Glendeven Inn, Mendocino, CA. Stanford Inn, Mendocino, CA. Oddfellows, Mendocino, CA. Smith&Vallee Gallery Invitational Landscape Show, Edison, WA. 2015 Ex-Patriots Invitational Show, Lexington, KY. Mercer Island Plein Aire Invitational, Mercer Island, WA. 2015 SW Washington Juried Exhibit. Minnaert Gallery, SPSCC, Olympia, WA. 2014 All Woman Art Show. Washington State University, Tri-Cities, Richland, WA. Ex Patriots Invitational Show. Artsplace, Lexington, KY. 2000 Force of the New Millennium. Living Arts and Science Center, Lexington, KY. 1998 National Collage Society Thirteenth Annual Juried Exhibit. Cleveland, OH. 1997 Scissors, Paper, Rock. Loudon House, Lexington, KY. Three Woman Show. Art’s Place, Lexington, KY. Thirteenth Annual Juried Exhibit. Art’s Place, Lexington, KY. 1996 The Nude Show. Loudon House, Lexington, KY. 1984 Women’s Symposium. University of Oregon, Eugene, OR. 1983 Oregon Watercolor Society Annual Juried Show. Salem, OR. Women’s Symposium. University of Oregon, Eugene, OR. 1982 Women’s Symposium. University of Oregon, Eugene, OR. PUBLICATION 'Four Artists 2021 Juror's Invitational...' Oly Arts, April 15, 2021. Crosscut - Washington State and Seattle News, April 8, 2021. SADA, Seattle Art Dealers Association, April 2021. Madeira Today, Issue 203, Winter 2021. Hart James: 'A Layering of Existence Imbued with Intense Energy,' Oly Arts, Alec Clayton, March 20, 2020. Smith & Vallee Gallery, Year in Review 2019. SADA, Seattle Art Dealers Association, December 2019. Seattle Art Gallery Guide, June 2019. South Sound Arts, January 2019. 'The Beauty of Mother Earth.' Port Townsend Leader, June 5, 2019. Seattle Art Gallery Guide, August 2018. Oly Arts, August 2018. Weekly Volcano, April 2018. Seattle Art Gallery Guide, April 2016. South Sound Arts, January 2015. South Sound Arts, March 2015. South Sound Arts, September 2013. TEACHING MoNA, La Conner, NW artists lecture, 2020. Private painting classes, 2018-2020. St Martin's University, 2019, art history and drawing classes. Mendocino Art Center, oil painting, 2018. |
Hart James on Trees
Trees are ‘The Ancients.’
They have stood on this earth before the human species arrived to the planet. Trees have born witness to the rise and fall of civilizations/ survived climate change/ and still stand tall as they struggle to persevere our industrialization of the planet. My work brings attention to the trees. I paint their stand against time/ standing with hundreds to thousands of their own in years gone by/ standing alone now in strength. I paint the energy that they gift us with in a myriad of biological functions; functions so numerous that it seems more are ‘discovered’ weekly. I paint the spiritual energy with which they endow us. Energy symbolized since early man in art / story and religion. Jung wrote of their importance as an archetypal symbol: the symbol of the Christian symbol of the cross/ of the church steeple/ of the Buddhist stupa and on; a symbol of the joining of heaven and earth. The ancient and current day Japanese observe and worship the inner forces of objects such as trees, rocks, mountains in their native religion: Shintoism. It is this energy that is reflected in the dynamic brushwork of Zen painting or Chan. I paint trees as a form of reverence in my own practice and to bring the viewer into the practice of reverence of ‘The Ancients.’ 
The Sycamoreby Wendell Berry |