Courtney Hayes' painting studio in Somerville Massachusetts

Artist Statement

My paintings are grounded in nature and synthesize pop influences to create hybrid creatures and ethereal environments with mechanical, biological and geometric qualities. I am exploring the intersection of the organic and technological, inward and outer space. I am fascinated with the unknown and the unseen as a vehicle of the sublime, reflecting a reality larger than our normal awareness.

Worlds exist around us and inside of us on micro and macro levels that we have little or no sensory perception of.  I create these worlds through my imagination to express feminine qualities in nature such as, reproduction, nurturing and emotion. The subject matter derives from science and biology: cells, amoeba, flora, fauna, underwater, outer space, reflecting different states of consciousness and dimensions in symbolic form. I think of the compositions as visual poetry that weaves personal life events and collective contemporary experience into a tapestry that celebrates feminine identity, the miracle of nature and our relationship to it.

Bio

Courtney Hayes is a Massachusetts based painter born in Southern Indiana, also raised in Virginia and the Western suburbs of Chicago. Courtney’s mediums include printmaking, painting in all media, 3-D sculpture and ceramics. She holds a BFA and teaching degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and an MFA from Claremont Graduate University where she was the sole recipient of the Beverly and Karl Benjamin Fellowship in 1996 and the Presidential Award in 1997. Courtney worked closely with Karl Benjamin, a colorist and geometric abstractionist (1924-2012) who first found fame in 1959,“Four Abstract Classicists. She was also mentored by the chair of the art school at Claremont, Roland Reiss, (1929-2020) a painter and miniature sculptor who set the precedent for abstract painting at CGU. Synchronistically, all 3 artists hailed from Chicago, IL. The impressionist and post-impressionist collections at the Art Institute of Chicago were an immense influence on her work, as well as the Chicago School of painters known as the “Hairy Who” which included Gladys Neilson and Jim Nutt. Their work, playful yet serious, utilized acidic color choices, and psychedelic patterns. As a student at the Art Institute, Courtney took an influential class with the art Historian Dennis Adrien called, “Fantastics and Eccentrics in Contemporary Art.” And, she was one of David Sedaris’ original 10 creative writing students in 1990 at SAIC. Courtney’s work has always been an intuitive expression of her “otherness” as a feminine artist. She closely identifies with Outsider Art, Surrealism, Spiritual Art, and art depicting the natural world. She was inspired and encouraged by her teacher Frank Piatek at SAIC, to follow her instincts, and develop a sense of  individuality. Courtney wants her imagery to communicate the need for humanity to embrace and sympathize, and take care of nature. She wants to raise awareness around the miraculous interconnected systems that make life possible.

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Read about Courtney’s work in Broad Strokes