Jennifer Hawke – Artist Statement
When I moved to Vashon Island 15 years ago, I was fascinated by the maritime refuse I found on the beaches.
Not unlike the outskirts of Montana where I grew up, I saw the discarded remains of industry and pleasure that perked my curiosity.
It’s important to me that the work portrays a wonder: what I create is not a grand political statement or finger shaking towards our lack of consideration to nature. I feel like I am rearranging memory.
I take the familiar and discarded and represent them in a fashion that I hope might spur a recollection, or a story. The title of my series, “Love Notes from Quartermaster Harbor“, reexamines what we thought we left behind, but never left us. A complicated relationship: sometimes flirtatious or romantic, sometimes abusive, I imagine the stories that my work creates are simply the breath of a lover returned in a kiss.
I see nature is a mirror. Sometimes that reflection is strange and conflicting, and I strive to create a voice for that introspection.