“Inspiration for a new painting series can come from a word, a dance, a look, a grandchild’s scribble, the light of the day, a challenge to myself, or even a small piece of my previous paintings.”
Jessica Hachmeister, an artist recently relocated from Seattle, works in large, acrylic, and mixed media paintings. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, she lived most of her early life abroad in such diverse cities as Havana, Mexico City, Heidelberg, and Rome. She graduated from the American School in Lugano, Switzerland and pursued her strong interest in art and art history into college. Her advanced studies began at California Western University in San Diego, and later continued at Villa Mercede in Florence, Italy, the University of Cincinnati, and Miami University. While living in Seattle, she continued her studies in design, drawing, painting, and art history at the University of Washington, Cornish Institute of Art, and Pratt Fine Art Center. Locally, she has taken art classes at Boston University and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Ms. Hachmeister creates large, abstract acrylic paintings often incorporating charcoal, pastel, and texture into her canvases. Her most recent work, the Merrimack Series, is inspired by observing the grasses glowing on a dark night along the river in her hometown of Newbury, MA.
"I have always been drawn toward large, dramatic, abstract paintings. When I began to create my own paintings, I developed a personal style based on large dominant shapes. I often distribute these shapes across multiple canvases to create balanced landscapes of static or moving forms. I draw inspiration from everything around me ... day-to-day ... as I observe and experience nature and my surrounding environment."
Ms. Hachmeister typically lays out a backdrop of dominate shapes and then carefully works the intervening space, applying color and line to create both contrast and continuity between form and space. Her new paintings typically incorporate parts of previous paintings that she then expands upon, often repeating and redeveloping, to produce a certain dynamic consistency to her work.
"I paint simply to experience the rewards of creativity. For me, painting is an ongoing search for expression - often meditative, sometimes exciting, and always a challenge. Painting pulls together the pieces of my life and allows me to organize them into a visual story.
Ms. Hachmeister works out of her own studio near the Parker River in Newbury, MA and shows her work locally at a variety of venues.