ABOUT
BIO
Naomi Hart grew up as an artist in a literary family on a remote homestead in the woods of Northern Minnesota where she was heavily influenced by the two storytelling cultures of her home and community. A life-long Minnesota resident, she divides her time between art studios in Minnesota and a family retreat in the Driftless Region of Wisconsin where she combines an extensive arsenal of fine art techniques into what she calls “visual storytelling”.
In 2004, Hart received an MFA in Printmaking and BookArts from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Upstate NY. Following school, Hart taught extensively in classroom and workshop settings promoting non-toxic printmaking techniques. Hart's intaglio prints and sculptural work in book form have been exhibited internationally, winning a purchase award for permanent collection in the Indianapolis Art Center's Non-toxic Printmaking Collection.
Since 2011, Hart has focused her practice on a unique processes that she has developed which introduces her detailed etchings and drawing skills as a foundation to encaustic hot wax painting. Hart has won numerous awards with the exhibition of her Encaustic Mixed Media artwork including most recently, Best of Show at the Wausau Art Fair, the Ann Arbor Art Fair, and Ashley for the Arts, and a Directors Choice award at Hallberg Gallery’s In Show.
Hart has an extensive exhibition schedule that is supported in part through granting. She is a 2021 recipient of the Central Minnesota Arts Board Individual Artist Award, and in both 2021 and 2023 she received the Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Support for Individuals Grant. She has also received a Career Development Grant from the Central Minnesota Arts Board both in 2017 and 2020.
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ARTIST STATEMENT
As an Encaustic Artist with a background in printmaking, I combine intaglio etchings with detailed drawings and materials embedded within layers of a mixed media approach to painting with hot beeswax. This unconventional method both physically and visually tells the story of my on-going healing journey through recovery and trauma. The translucent beeswax creates the illusion of depth allowing a history of layers to carry impact without overpowering imagery. The wax allows light to penetrate the depths, emulating the process of self-revelation, acceptance and healing.
Each of the numerous layers is fused with fire to the layer below it, melding together to tell a story that bears witness to a history of generational trauma, and mimics the ebb and flow of my search for a consistent practice to manage mental illness. The beeswax softens and distorts imagery. It hides or reveals as it is moved about the surface of each layer with fire. It physically dissolves the struggle with trauma while morphing the darkness into light, allowing illumination from within.
My use of referential imagery springs from a cultural history of storytelling. I use familiar symbolism from nature to depict my journey of transformation. I draw from the ancient tradition of searching for identity, guidance and truths within the deep reservoir of the therapeutic resources found within the natural world. This aspect of my work is universal and stirs a common thread of insight towards personal growth.
Storytelling is also woven into the fabric of both recovery and trauma healing cultures. In each piece, I create a sense of time within a flow that exists outside of time's constructs, offering a new perspective and a glimpse of possibilities. The interplay of layers allows me to move through anxiety and shadowy memories. I use text to form a relationship between the layers and weave a path to follow; to acknowledge their impact and rise above their history to embrace the elusive present. I layer to play with illusion, to impart incongruous notions with childlike wonder, and to revel in ritual and magic both in reverence to and in spite of my mental health. Words link the imagery to my personal journey and reveal the influence of my heritage; the stories that formed the foundation of my childhood and introduced me to the symbiotic relationship between man and nature.
Through the primal use of fire, the lines between healing and creating blur. As I fuse dark images to a sequence of healing symbolism, I create a parallel metamorphosis that transcends failures, regrets and burdens, following a journey that leads to grace and understanding. I am driven to find balance through the transformation that occurs. As in life, I choose each moment to either move with the flow or attempt to bend it to my will. Woven through fire, the layers become one and unveil truths I have learned.