Today we’d like to introduce you to Adrienne Hodge.
Hi Adrienne, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My background is in art education. I have worked as a teacher, an administrator, a gallerist, a curator and a museum docent. My personal and professional art practice became a part of my daily life when I became a mother over seven years ago.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I graduated from UT with a B.F.A. in Visual Art Studies in 2010. I began teaching middle school art right out of college, and teaching became my life. My personal art practice took a major backseat for those three years. When I left teaching to stay home after my first child was born in 2013, I found myself deeply questioning my identity as an artist. I dedicated myself to creating work every day during that time. As a new mom, that was a challenging undertaking, but my fidelity to this practice has been unwavering since. I also began teaching art to adults in 2014, so practicing what I was encouraging others to do became a natural consequence. Creative work is not just my job now. It is my therapy. It has been my liferaft through my second child’s birth in 2016, a divorce, and several career tangents that all seemed to lead me back to myself and my unique approach to life as a teaching artist. In 2017, I co-founded Moon Gallery & Studio in east Austin with my creative partner, Lauren Tarbel. We operated as a gallery and learning space for Austin artists until closing our brick & mortar space in November of 2019. Presently, we continue to host virtual figure drawing sessions under Moon Gallery & Studio via the almighty power of Zoom. I have been very lucky in the last few years to enjoy some incredible opportunities and platforms for showcasing my skills as a teaching artist. I have led professional development seminars for other art educators, taught drawing, painting, and mixed media classes and workshops through a number of incredible organizations, and made a large body of work in a style that is unmistakably my own.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I work primarily with calligraphy ink on watercolor paper, but I also do a lot of collage and mixed media work. I classify many of my pieces as contemporary drawings as my painting style is largely based on pen & ink drawing techniques. I also enjoy using ink on a variety of surfaces like canvas or printmaking paper. Before I began pursuing visual art, I wanted to be a writer. So, the use of ink has stemmed largely from my love of journaling and the literary world. Altering books and creating art with incorporated text is something I ruminated on for years before actually doing it. For years, I passed this off as a random decision, but lately, I realize there have been no accidents. I hesitate to use the word metaphysical to describe my work, but I am largely interested in the magical aspect of observable science. I heavily research topics in my work. I have audited graduate-level courses in quantum physics and neuroscience in my spare time over the last few years. I try to absorb as much information as possible and then later incorporate the notes from these studies into my work when the moment feels right. I am a portraitist and a storyteller at heart. So, I sort of fuse all of these things that fascinate me into these ethereal worlds that seek to represent the liminal space occupied by the physical and metaphysical. I see all of my fall-back imagery–self-portraits, clouds, stars, etc.–as a way for me to embrace and accept myself as I move through uncertainty and anxiety in the world. A lot of people know me for my skyscapes, but I think many would be surprised to know that I am often trying to capture a sense of deep ocean-related imagery that tends to evolve into surrealistic landscapes of imaginary realms of interstellar space. I’ve always been drawn to dark and dramatic paintings of ships at sea or the idea of a deserted island disconnected from other lands. I also really enjoy deconstructing traditional landscapes down to simple or elemental symbols. I’ve developed my own lexicon of abstracted vocabulary that I can use rather playfully at will. I am most proud of my understanding of myself as an artist and how I work best. Everything I do is a deliberate act to find an intuitive flow. I have a system for pushing through creative blocks to the point that I don’t get them very often. I have inspirational blocks, but the way through those is always working. I work every day. Even if it’s just a throwaway drawing on a legal pad. I set timers for myself if I have limited time. I make a lot of excuses for not being productive in other areas of life, but I always make time for my art practice. My daily journaling practice is the same way. I have filled four journals in 2020 alone. The lesson I have learned from this work method is that if I’m looking for a breakthrough while painting or writing, it will often happen in hour ten of a 14-hour workday, but rarely the first.
What’s next?
For years now, I have incorporated diagrams and math or science text into my work, but I am currently developing an art book that will fuse my own musings and writing with ethereal illustrations. This endeavor can be previewed soon as I am approaching completion on a similar art book that is a collaboration with a local poet. So, the first book release will be his writing fused with my art. The second will be all my own. However, both originals will be housed in the same large leatherbound volume. I am also in the brainstorming phase of developing my own deck of tarot cards with all original artwork. I expect this to be completed in late 2021 or 2022. For those in the field of art education, I have been working on an innovative textbook that analyzes and inspires how adult learners of art operate and thrive. This book has evolved from my experience teaching art to adults at the community level, and I hope for it to be a guidebook for other teaching artists when it is complete. In addition to these projects, I am looking forward to hosting more virtual figure drawing sessions and providing more online classes and private lessons in drawing, painting, and mixed media techniques. Since March 2020, I have been offering all of these things virtually via Zoom. Current class offerings can be found in my online shop and original art and prints that are available for purchase. I am also currently open for portrait, landscape, and abstracted art commissions.
Pricing:
- Private Art Lessons on Zoom -$65 per 1.5 hour session
Contact Info:
- Email: adriennehodge@gmail.com
- Website: https://adriennehodge.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adriennehodgeart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adriennehodgefineart
- Other: https://linktr.ee/adriennehodge
Image Credits
“In the Light” portrait by Nathan Russell All artwork photos by me.
