Charlotte Hedlund
Wethersfield, Connecticut
Wethersfield, Connecticut
Bio: Connecticut artist Charlotte Hedlund works primarily with mixed media and artists’ books. Hedlund’s intimate small-scale works are notations of thoughts and emotions, often involving the process of meditative mark making. The artist holds a degree in Visual Studies, is a certified expressive arts facilitator, and has taught at SUNY Empire State College and Brookfield Craft Center. She is a juried guild artist member of the Silvermine Arts Center, New Haven Paint and Clay, The Center for Book Arts in New York City, and CT Women Artists. An award-winning artist, she has exhibited her work regionally and nationally.
Statement: Process and connection have always been most important to me in my art making. An idea will begin to unfold, often inspired by a poem or a quote that triggers memory or evokes emotion and connects to a spiritual center. My process is slow and meditative. Repetition and mark making are part of this process. Connections are made between what I know and what I am discovering as I work, how the new work connects to old work, how art connects us all.
Over the years my art evolved from large paintings to small mixed-media works. I loved the intimacy of small-scale works, so when I was introduced to the genre of artists’ books it was a perfect fit. I always saw my work as living in the interstice between art and craft, and the artists’ book allowed me not only the joy of expressing ideas visually but also the tactile experience of “making,” constructing, engineering.
While process is more important than product to me, when I expose a work to a viewer I am hoping for connections to be made. With artists’ books, viewers can get up close and personal with the work in an intimate way and can interact with it. It is my hope not only that they will understand my message but also that they will find their own meanings and messages in the work.
Statement: Process and connection have always been most important to me in my art making. An idea will begin to unfold, often inspired by a poem or a quote that triggers memory or evokes emotion and connects to a spiritual center. My process is slow and meditative. Repetition and mark making are part of this process. Connections are made between what I know and what I am discovering as I work, how the new work connects to old work, how art connects us all.
Over the years my art evolved from large paintings to small mixed-media works. I loved the intimacy of small-scale works, so when I was introduced to the genre of artists’ books it was a perfect fit. I always saw my work as living in the interstice between art and craft, and the artists’ book allowed me not only the joy of expressing ideas visually but also the tactile experience of “making,” constructing, engineering.
While process is more important than product to me, when I expose a work to a viewer I am hoping for connections to be made. With artists’ books, viewers can get up close and personal with the work in an intimate way and can interact with it. It is my hope not only that they will understand my message but also that they will find their own meanings and messages in the work.