Heather Hansen --Drawing and Dancing (Studio Habit of Mind- Express)

Heather Hansen--Art+Dance
"Part dance and part performance art, the kinetic drawings are a way for Hansen to merge her love for visual art and dance into a unified art form."

Heather Hansen is a fine artist working in New Orleans, and Paris. Her kinetic drawings are part dance, part performance art using her body as a drawing tool and ending up as large scale pieces in charcoal or pastels. ki·net·ic  -relating to or resulting from motion. movement.

Charcoal and chalk pastels are drawing materials that are easily blended.  Charcoal is the carbon that is remaining after something like wood is burned (think of the black bits and pieces leftover after a fire pit, bonfire...it's formed into sticks for an artist to use.  Pastels are color mineral powders pressed into a stick.  These are available in out drawing studio.

Using her body movements, Heather creates breathtaking, large scale charcoal paintings. In 2012 she began experimenting with kinetic drawing and has been searching for ways to combine her passion for visual art and dance.  

1. 
   
2. Often we think of kinetic art as 3D. Heather Hansen is creating Kinetic 2D art.  Her movement creating lines is actually part of the art.

Heather plans and puts thought into her movements and the order or what we would call the choreography(sequence) of moves result in her mark making.  Every move will create a mark and depending how she moves, she will make short, long, curved or straight lines.

Heather's art is what we would call Linear  = Linear: consisting of, or using lines.  
Think of how you use lines in your own art.
Her work is also symmetrical.  You may have heard this word in math.  Think of an imaginary line down the middle of her art.

sym·me·try -- the quality of being made up of exactly similar parts facing each other or around an axis.

Look for lines and symmetry in Heather's art.  
Do the lines repeat? 
Are the lines curved or straight?

Yes, Heather's art is messy.  Many students noticed this.  All of our art studios have the potential to be messy.

What are you passionate about?
How can you express your passions and interests in your art?
Is creating performance art or kinetic art the best way to express your idea?


Heather Hansen live performance from Heather Hansen on Vimeo.

Resources:
https://www.boredpanda.com/charcoal-dance-drawings-performance-art-emptied-gestures-heather-hansen/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/01/emptied-gestures-heather-hansen/

Shannah Burton New City School