About the Exhibition

There is a strong tradition of grand or dramatic depictions of landscape in art. I am interested, instead, in details of the landscape that are often overlooked. I use a range of materials and practices to explore order and entropy in Nature. Some of the works shown here are heavily digitally altered and overlaid, while others are highly realistic. Ambiguities of scale and pictorial space are intended to make the images more abstract, even artificial.

 The sculptural frames act as ornate windows for the landscapes within, elevating the value of both object and image.  Historically, decorative frames rarely had a specific relationship to the images they contained. In contrast, I am blurring the division between object and image by sculpting, or utilizing elements, that directly extend the narrative of the illusive image into actual three-dimensional space. 

Other works simply employ the decorativeness of the ornamented frame as a formal backdrop for highly altered details from Nature. They reference tapestry, or other elaborate pattern and decoration-heavy design elements.

-Celene Hawkins

 

About the Artist

Celene Hawkins is a Cincinnati-based visual artist. She is a partner at a design and fabrication studio, creating public and private commission works as well as site furnishings and functional art. Her artistic practice covers a range of disciplines including sculpture, photo-based works, and installation art.

Her work is in public, private, and corporate collections including the Lloyd Library and Museum, Fidelity Investments, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. She periodically curates exhibitions and has served in several faculty positions at area universities.

Hawkins has been reviewed in a variety of publications, including ArtPapers, Landscape Architecture, and Sculpture Magazine. She has been awarded grants from the Summerfair Foundation and received an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council.