Featured Artists: Francene Hart & Ethel Mann
Featured Cover Artist: Francene Hart
Francene Hart knew as a child she would be an artist. She grew up in the middle of the US, spending 26 years in northern Wisconsin where she built a log home and discovered a passion for living with nature before moving to Hawai‘i in 2001.
Francene is an internationally-recognized visionary artist whose work has been widely published in books and magazines, and hangs in the homes and offices of art collectors everywhere.
In art school Francene created large abstract acrylic paintings. She later moved to the forest where, for many years, nature and spirit were her teachers and inspirations. After she began studying sacred geometry, she found that incorporating it into her images created a more expansive vision.
Francene has used watercolors almost exclusively ever since. Once she discovered their colors and transparency, she recognized that the medium was the perfect means for her to translate a layered view of the universe.
She shares, “I feel honored that my life path has taken me on this amazing adventure and allowed me to create a modest living creating paintings that follow my vision. I have been interested in protecting the earth since the first Earth Day in 1966 and feel the urgency to care for her even more today.”
In Earth Prayers, this coverʻs image, tetrahedral patterns and a vesica piscis form a protective divine matrix around the planet. In the center, our home, Mother Earth, shines in beauty and grace. Multi-colored hands surround and reside within these patterns, symbolizing participation of all humans in the concept of stewardship and sustainability.
Francene reflects, “Stewardship expresses an understanding that there is spirit in everything and that everything is connected. It implies awareness that each of our actions, whether it is growing a vegetable, use of natural resources, and even our thoughts affect the whole. It requires living with a sense of connectedness and relationship with all beings and respect for the Earth.
“I am truly living my dreams in Hawai‘i. I am learning that what my heart desires is to live a quiet life in nature, and to continue painting and enjoying this magical island. Inspiration comes from everywhere. Meditation, dreams, travel, and most of all simply being open to this awesome planet and the beauty that surrounds us.”
For more information: FranceneHart.com
Table Of Contents Artist: Ethel Mann
Ethel Mann was born in Buffalo, New York, was raised in California, and she and her husband Ray moved to Hawai‘i Island in 2009—first to Pāhoa, and now Pāpa‘ikou, where she currently has her studio.
Ethel studied art at the University of California, Berkeley, where she received an MFA in 1988. Ethel is a two-time winner of the Eisner Prize, designed to recognize excellence in uniting multiple generations.
Ethelʻs work takes many forms. She says, “It is always a personal diary. For me, discoveries in the creative process are paramount. My work is always an exploration of possibilities. An image may be satisfied with 15 minutes of my time, or it may ask me to engage with it for years. I obey the muse, allowing each image its own voice. I follow the wind.”
Ethel participates in group shows at the East Hawai‘i Cultural Center and the Wailoa Arts Center in Hilo.
For more information:
EMannStudio.com, saatchiart.com/EMann
