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| Introduction | Essay
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Artist
Statement
"Romanticism is precisely
situated neither in choice of subject nor exact truth, but in a
way of feeling." (Charles Baudelaire)
My work is very much about process and color. I
love the subtleties, the viscosity and the richness of oil paints.
As I paint I challenge myself to experiment and take risks. I use
a variety of different tools to create different effects and work
on my paintings in layers building up rich textured surfaces. Much
of my paint application is quite physical, involving pressing, scraping,
rubbing, wiping, carving and layering.
Both the abstract paintings and the sea/landscapes
are inspired by my surroundings at home and the places I have visited.
Subtle changes in the light and wonderful color discovered at the
most unsuspecting moments become absorbed and then find their way
into my work, also at unexpected moments. When I am painting I try
to be open to where the work will take me. Mostly, I do not start
with any preconceived ideas. Experience over the years has taught
me to let a painting talk to me and respond to it. A dialog starts
taking place.
My abstract paintings refer to nature without any
realistic references. They are a collection of different impressions
that are expressed on a flat rectangular surface. Often it is a
layer of color, certain marks or certain moods that capture my imagination
and determine the direction the painting will take. Even though
the paintings can be inspired by nature, they are expressions of
a sensory experience. In these paintings I aim to capture a feeling
without any lifelike illusions. It is art made on an instinctive
level, from a deeply felt core within me.
One day, while working on a painting, I added a
horizon line and was suddenly confronted with a landscape or seascape.
My immediate response was to get rid of it because of its representational
quality, but found myself seduced by this new genre. Over the last
year I have been exploring this newly discovered format and have
found a fertile ground to explore color and light. Working with
the land/seascape I have found a new form of self-expression very
much linked to the tradition of Romantic painters. Romanticism “stressed
strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience, placing new
emphasis on such emotions as trepidation, horror, and the awe experienced
in confronting the sublimity of nature”.
The French critic Paul Mantz wrote: “According
to whether your art is sanguine or somber, nature celebrates with
you or consoles….You see nature agitated or at ease, according
to what is happening within yourself” (Salon de 1847). I find
this statement applies to both styles of my painting.
Working with color as an artist in the twenty first
century is quite a difference experience than in earlier times.
Today a trip to the art store offers a variety of pigments that
just need to be squeezed out of a tube to be used. While the abundance
of supplies available to an artist today encourage experimentation
and free the artist from hours of preparing paints, the emotional
and spiritual meaning as well as the rarity of a specific color
can be lost easily.
The color blue is dominant in many of my paintings.
Most of us associate blue with the sky, sea and water. For me blue
is also a color of indefinite depth carrying spiritual meaning that
can be uplifting as well as despairing. Carl Jung wrote of blue’s
positive meaning of tranquility as well as the negative meaning
of depression. In many culture from the Egyptians, to the ancient
Greeks, to Indian Mythology and to Christian Medieval Times blue
symbolized God’s truth and eternity. The German writer and
color theorist Goethe associated blue with understanding and believed
it evoked a quiet mood.
The writer Victoria Finlay in her book Color talks
about ultramarine blue. In medieval times the Italians gave the
color its name, not because they associated it with the “ultra”
blue of the Mediterranean, but because the paint was imported “from
beyond the seas”.
Ultramarine was made from the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli and
most of it was and still is found in the northern mountains of Afghanistan.
Michelangelo was one of the artists who patiently waited for this
very special blue to be delivered from the Dora Pass into Pakistan,
from the Indus River to Egypt, from Syria to Venice. No wonder the
color was considered extremely precious and reserved mostly for
the Virgin Mary’s robe.
Today of course we use a synthetic version of ultramarine,
but the rich and meaningful history of color continues to nourish
us emotionally and spiritually.
Anne Hebebrand
Education
| 1992 |
M.A., University of Alabama, Birmingham,
AL |
| 1982 |
B.F.A., Boston Museum School, Boston, MA |
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One
Person Exhibitions
2006/
2007 |
Good News Café, Woodbury,
CT |
| 2005 |
The Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art, The
University of Connecticut at Avery Point, Groton, CT |
| |
New Work”, Ginger Druchyk Gallery, Glastonbury,
CT |
| 2004 |
“Conversations”, Artworks Gallery,
Hartford, CT |
| |
The Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, Augusta,
GA |
| 2003 |
The Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art, The
University of Connecticut at Avery |
| 2002 |
“Square Reflections”, John Bryan
Gallery, Farmington, CT |
| 2001 |
The Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art, The
University of Connecticut at Avery |
| 2000 |
The Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art, The
University of Connecticut at Avery |
| |
“Selections, Paintings by Anne Hebebrand”,
The University of Connecticut |
| 1999 |
“Lyrical Passages”, Artworks Gallery,
Hartford, CT |
| 1996 |
Oneta Gallery, West Hartford, CT |
| 1995 |
“Recent Works”, Oneta Gallery,
West Hartford, CT |
| 1992 |
“New Works”, Connie Ulrich, Huntsville,
AL |
| 1988 |
“Paperworks”, The Gertrude Herbert
Institute of Art, Augusta, GA |
| 1986 |
“Recent Works”, The Gallery, Thomson,
GA |
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Selected
Invitational Exhibitions
| 2006 |
Gallery 11, Hartford,CT |
| |
Brick Walk Fine Art, West Hartford, CT |
| |
Diane Birdsall Gallery, Old Lyme ,CT |
| 2005 |
Washington Art Association, Washington Depot,
CT |
| 2004 |
“Works on Paper”, Ginger Druchyk
Gallery, Glastonbury, CT |
| |
Two Person Exhibition, Ethel Walker School,
Simsbury, CT |
| |
“2004 Summer Invitational”, Ginger
Druchyk Gallery, Glastonbury, CT |
| 2001 |
“Colour” - Paintings by Anne Hebebrand
and Nancy Buck, Artworks Gallery |
| 2000 |
“Six Painters- Six Visions”, Gallery
on the Green, Canton, CT |
| 1999 |
“Three Generations: Into Three Centuries”,
The Alexey von Schlippe Gallery |
| 1998 |
“Squared Off”, 100 Pearl Street,
Hartford, CT |
| |
“The Ebb and The Flow”, Exposure
LTD, Manchester, CT |
| |
“Four Members and Four Guests”,
Gallery on the Green, Canton, CT |
| 1997 |
“New Members Exhibit”, Artworks
Gallery, Hartford, CT |
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Juried and
Group Exhibitions
| 2006 |
Connecticut Women Artists Juried
Members Exhibition, The Slater Museum, Norwich CT |
| |
Access Art, 100 Pearl Street, Hartford, CT |
| 2005 |
“12 Annual Exhibition”, Essex Art
Center, Lawrence, MA |
| |
Connecticut Women Artists Juried Members Exhibition,
The Slater Memorial Museum, Norwich, CT |
| |
Summer Juried Exhibition, Artworks Gallery,
Hartford, CT |
| 2004 |
Pumphouse Gallery, Hartford, CT |
| |
“10 Years at 100 Pearl Gallery”,
Pearl Street Gallery, Hartford, CT |
| |
“Summer in the City”, Artworks
Gallery, Hartford CT |
| |
“Juried Drawing, Print and Photography
Exhibition”, Artworks Gallery |
| 2002 |
“The Connecticut Vision”, Mattatuck
Museum, Waterbury, CT |
| |
“B.A.R.E. Regional Artist Exhibition”,
Pfizer Inc., Groton, CT |
| |
“Media Edge”, Artworks Gallery,
Hartford, CT |
| 2001 |
“Twenty Fifth Anniversary Exhibition”,
Artworks Gallery, Hartford, CT |
| 2000 |
“24th Annual Open Juried Competition”,
Artworks Gallery, Hartford, CT |
| 1999 |
“32nd Annual Open Juried Show”,
Gallery on the Green, Canton, CT |
| 1998 |
“Open Show”, Gallery on the Green,
Canton, CT |
| |
“87th Exhibition, Connecticut Academy
of Fine Arts”, The Slater Memorial Museum, Norwich, CT |
| |
“New Members’ Show”, Gallery
on the Green, Canton, CT |
| |
“Juried Summertime Show”, Artworks
Gallery, Hartford, CT |
| |
“55th Annual Exhibition”, The Slater
Memorial Museum, Norwich, CT |
| 1997 |
“21st Annual December Open Juried Competition”,
Artworks Gallery, Hartford, CT |
| |
“Open Show”, Gallery on the Green,
Canton, CT |
| |
“Miracles ‘97”, 100 Pearl
Street, Hartford, CT |
| |
“Choices”, The Mill Gallery, Guilford,
CT |
| |
“Members’ 37th Anniversary Show”,
Gallery on the Green, Canton, CT, award recipient. |
| |
“86th Annual Juried Show”, Connecticut
Academy of Fine Arts, New Britain Museum of American Art, New
Britain, CT |
| |
“Conversations”, Gallery on the
Green, Canton, CT |
| 1989 |
“Thirteenth Juried Student Annual”,
UAB Visual Art Gallery, Birmingham, AL |
| 1984 |
“Independent Area Schools’ Faculty
Exhibit, The Atlanta Art Institute, Atlanta |
| 1983 |
Faculty Exhibit, The Lovett School, Atlanta,
Georgia, September |
| 1981 |
“Dana Pond Exhibition”, Boston
Museum School, Boston, MA |
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Selected
Honors / Awards
| 2006 |
First Place Award, Connecticut
Women Artists Juried Members Exhibition, The Slater Memorial
Museum of Art, Norwich, CT |
| 1997 |
First Price Award, “21st Annual December
Open Juried Exhibition”, Artworks Gallery, Hartford, CT |
| |
First Price Award, “Conversations”,
Gallery on the Green, Canton, CT |
| 1981 |
Dana Pond Painting Award, Boston Museum School,
Boston, MA |
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Curatorial
/ Writing / Teaching Experience
2006-
present |
Albertus Magnus College, adjunct
faculty, New Haven, CT |
| |
Manchester Community College, adjunct faculty,
Manchester, CT |
| 2005-present |
Connecticut Commission of Culture and Tourism,
teaching artist, Hartford, CT |
| |
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, drawing instructor,
Hartford, CT |
| |
The Bushnell, Partners in Education, Instructor,
Hartford, CT |
| 2005 |
Artis Magazine, contributing writer, West Hartford,
CT |
2003-
present |
Private Students in my Studio |
| 1999 |
Artist-in-Residence, Naubuc School, Glastonbury,
CT |
1999-
1996 |
Chair, Cultural Arts program, Buttonball Lane
School, Glastonbury, CT |
1994-
1995 |
Substitute art teacher, Glastonbury School
System, Glastonbury, CT |
1988-
1989 |
Birmingham Museum of Art, Curatorial Assistant
and Instructor, Birmingham, AL |
| 1988 |
Paneled artist-in-residence, Georgia Commission
on the Arts, Atlanta, GA |
1985-
1988 |
Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, Executive
Director and Instructor, Augusta, GA |
| 1984/85 |
Augusta Preparatory School, Arts Educator,
9 – 12, Augusta, GA |
| 1983/84 |
The Lovett School, Arts educator, 1 –
6, Art coordinator, k – 12, Atlanta., GA |
| 1982/83 |
Milton Academy, Arts Educator, k- 5, Milton,
MA |
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Membership
| 2002- present |
Selected member, Connecticut Women
Artists, CT |
2002-
2003 |
President, Artworks Gallery, Hartford, CT |
| 2001- 2002 |
Board member, West Hartford Art League, West
Hartford, CT |
| 1999- present |
Selected lifetime member, Connecticut Academy
of Fine Arts, CT |
| 1996-2004 |
Selected member, Artworks Gallery, Hartford,
Connecticut |
| 1987-1990 |
Paneled Artist-in Residence, Georgia Council
for the Arts, Atlanta, CT |
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Collections
- Pfizer Inc., Groton CT
- Max Restaurant Group, Hartford,
CT
- Private collections in New England,
New York and the southeast
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Bibliography
| 2005 |
“Good News Café Mounts
Hebebrand Art Exhibit”, Voices, December 14 |
| |
“Three Artists in WAA Exhibition”,
The New Republican, October 2 |
| 2004 |
Rosoff, Patricia, “Conversations: New
Paintings by Anne Hebebrand”, Art New England, June/July
issue |
| |
“Portrait: Anne Hebebrand: Color your
World”, Artistic FX, April/ May |
| |
Larsen, Donna, “Squares, Stripes and
Colors”, The Hartford Courant, March 11 |
| 2002 |
Rosoff, Patricia, “Shifting Colors”,
The Hartford Advocate, December 5 |
| 2001 |
“Color”, Connecticut Magazine,
November, reproduction |
| 1999 |
Damsker, Matt, “Abstraction through the
Lens”, The Hartford Courant, September 9 |
| |
Clement, Nick, “Anne Hebebrand Show”,
The Hartford Courant, August 12 |
| |
McNally, Owen, “Lyrical Passages”,
The Hartford Courant, April 15 |
| |
“All in the Family”, The Hartford
Advocate, April 22 |
| 1998 |
Connecticut Guide, The New York Times, Sunday,
April 5, reproduction |
| 1997 |
“Great Works”, The Hartford Advocate,
May 22, reproduction |
| |
Rosoff, Patricia, “Grit and Grace”,
The Hartford Advocate, June 12 |
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