Oil paintings by Carolyn Enz Hack
Category: projects blog
Building Crosscurrents
A video explaining Carolyn Enz Hack’s theory and process for making a copper and crystal sculpture based on a river landscape.
Eve’s Daughters
I envisioned Eve’s Daughters taking shape in a crystalline form, using mica sheets as a structural element to create volume. The planes of mica give the effect of seeing multiple planes at once in ever-changing density and translucency when viewed from different perspectives. Within the piece are small copper silhouettes of female figures that catch the eye when the light and angle of viewing is right. They are dim predictions of potential. There are also three Swarovski sun prisms in the sculpture, positioned in the pelvis, solar plexus, and head. They are only visible with specific light conditions. The face…
Brainstorm
Our brains process information, regulate bodies, solve problems, and create a seamless flow from one experience to the next by continuously multitasking. Virtually all of this happens outside the stream of consciousness. “Brainstorming” is just bringing our attention to the power that we all have, but use so sparingly. The inspiration and form of this piece comes from the phenomenon of soliton waves. First described in 1834 by John Scott Russell as a “wave of translation” that he observed in a canal in Scotland. In mathematics and physics, a soliton is a self-reinforcing solitary wave that maintains its shape while…
Outside In
Outside In by Garrett Hack in collaboration w/ Carolyn Enz Hack 2017 Bill Truslow photo Outside In is a commissioned piece that Garrett and I spent many hours dreaming about. Our clients gave us free reign to create our best piece with a focus on Garrett’s exceptional ability to blend shockingly difficult engineering with forty years of practice in his craft. While we spent many an hour discussing design, once we had a path it was all Garrett’s ingenuity that brought the piece from mock-up through to the final tiny decorative details. Wood curves in all directions both outside and…
Change Your Mind
“Enz Hack’s beguiling work perfectly accomplished it’s aim of disrupting the usual patterns of perception and offering an opening to a world beyond.” B Amore Sculpture magazine Dec 2017 photos by Joshua Farr Process photos below the commentary Scale, Tornado, Creature, Comma, Fish, Consciousness. How are things held together? How is social cohesion accomplished? How do we examine our thoughts? How are we conscious of our thoughts? How can abstract thought lead to concrete objects? How are our thoughts held together? Why do things feel solid to us? What are emotions? Why does our nervous system run…
Encountering – The Space Between
Encountering – The Space Between wire, wood, mica, felt, mylar, acrylic 115x54x18” 2016 Encountering – The Space Between installed at the Carving Studio in West Rutland, Vermont installed at the Studio Place Arts Gallery in Barre, Vermont Them, Us & You Studio Place Arts International Exhibition While occupying a single earth, many generations of people have amplified their differences from others and the similarities within their own defined groups. Rather than coalescing around the idea that “we’re all in this collectively,” these extreme “US,” not “THEM” perspectives are expressed in both radical and in socially-accepted ways. This global, invitational exhibit involves…
Collaborations with Garrett Hack
For more information on the furniture please see my blog posts or visit GarrettHack.com Reilly cabinets 2013 Port and Starboard 2012 Shrine Cabinet with faux verde antique marble 2003 Whiskey Cabinet faux malachite 2006 Duet music cabinet 2015 VaVaVienna 68x26x16″ 2011 Box of Blue blanket chest faux lapis lazuli Outside In 2017 Reilly Cabinet detail Shrine Cabinet detail Whiskey Cabinet detail real and faux malachite Duet drawer and paint details Outside In in my studio 2017 Duet interior paint detailsOutside In detail textured paint Port/Starboard paint detail Outside In interior detail
Sculptural Paintings
Net Gain acrylic, ink, colored pencil, wire, paper 31x24x1” Tangible/Intangible watercolor, graphite, ink, acrylic, colored pencil, paper 30x45x4” Fossil mica, graphite, ink, paper 31x66x3” Counter Encounter acrylic, ink, graphite, colored pencil, copper wire, paper 31x46x3” Brainstorm graphite, acrylic, wire, paper, 42×42” Bang graphite, acrylic, wire, paper 24x65x8” Interim paper, ink, graphite, pins 22x22x9” Child Bride paper, mixed media, wire 28x14x5″ Motion Commotion acrylic, ink, colored pencil, straight pins, paper 31x24x2” Medusa paper, mixed media, wire 22x57x10” I Hold You All acrylic, paper 24x31x2” Antigone paper, mixed media, wire 18x23x5”
Vermont Landscape Through Time
“Carolyn Enz Hack’s powerful mixed media paintings also document a Vermont whose fortunes have ebbed and flowed through time.” Sheryl Trainor, “East Meets West”, Art New England, Sept/Oct 2016 My first studio was in the TipTop building in White River Junction, Vermont. When the English settlers first arrived in this part of North American they used the frozen Connecticut River as a highway to reach further into what was then “Kings Land”. This was land that was reserved for the English Crown as a place to harvest the giant White Pine trees for masts for the enormous warships of the…