Hokeilen Art

On My Mind: blog posts

Where to See My Art in 2024

I am honored to have two paintings in the new exhibit, Exploring Climate Change Through Art, at the Mesa Laboratory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder Colorado. This juried exhibit is a collaboration between Friends of the National Center, UCAR Center for Science Education, and the Museum of Boulder. The art opening is on Friday, May 17, 2024 and requires pre-registration for tickets - contact me if you would like to attend and I will send you the info!

Artist Statement:

Coyote Walking, 38”x50” framed oil on canvas (left)

Much ofmy artwork addresses the impact of global warming on wildlife in the western US. As water becomes scarcer, many species are threatened by drought, changing food sources, and habitat loss, while some, like the coyote, prosper as they learn to adapt. I paint the wildlife of the west while symbolically representing these changes through altered color, line, and shape. By doing this, I am acknowledging that their world, and their chances of survival, are changing as we alter the landscapes and climate of our shared planet. As a glass-half-full kind of person, the colors I use express an optimism in their futures. Today is a moment in the larger story of what was and what will be.

Standing, 38”x50” framed oil on canvas (right)

The bison, which occurs often in my artwork and for me is a symbol of perseverance, is painted large and static, filling the canvas. The bison is not walking through, not moving on; it is standing, it is staying, persevering. It faces hardships with low genetic diversity, droughts, and habitat loss, but there is no giving up. We are also not giving up, despite many Americans resisting efforts to curb global warming. The colors I use are an expression of my optimism in all our futures, particularly with the blue lines that curve within the bison and landscape, representing its connection to the land and to water, which all life on Earth requires to exist.

Two of my paintings have been accepted into the national juried exhibition, Earth First, at the Floyd Center for the Arts in Floyd, Virginia. These paintings will spend the first part of the summer in Virginia on display from April 20 - June 1, 2024.

This Moment (left): This lion walks her path in the Masai Mara, with her own purpose, her own story. I wonder at her future and how it will be shaped by the actions of humankind. 20"x24" oil on canvas framed in natural pine to 22"x26".

Waiting for the Unexpected (right): An elk looks up from a barren sunlit hillside, as if startled by the observer. This 24"x24" oil on canvas was created over an older painting with much of the original painting showing through in the elk's antlers and body. It is framed in natural pine to approximately 26"x26".

I have three paintings in the Reflections of Culture exibit opening March 2nd at The Armory Performing Arts Center in Brighton, Colorado. This exhibit is a joint effort by the Womens Caucus for the Arts in Colorado (WCACO) and the Chicano Humanities and Arts Council (CHAC) in Denver, and brings together artwork that reflects our individual and shared cultures. The opening reception will be on March 2 from 5-8pm and will include live music from both a jazz trio and a mariachi band. The exhibit, which runs through April 27st, is located at 300 Strong St, Brighton, CO 80601.

Note: this exhibit has been extended to May 17, 2024.

(Clockwise from top-left)

Pasture Raised is a 22”x28” oil on canvas painting of cattle on my parent’s farm in rural Missiouri. This Side is a 12”x12” oil on canvas painting of a bison, photographed at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, and framed in natural pine. Standing is a 36”x48” oil on canvas painting, framed in natural pine, of a bison that is painted large and static, filling the canvas, not moving on; it is staying, persevering.

The 6000 circles project is an international effort to include artists from around the world in celebrating the feminine through circles of art over the course of nine months in 2024. In Denver, this project will be on display in the Niza Knoll Gallery (Santa Fe Arts District) during February and in the Next Gallery (40 West Arts District) during April, after which it will be moved to Trinidad, CO for display with circles from Colorado and New Mexico. My 2-sided circle represents the complexity of feminity with abstract art on one side, pages of mathematics on the other, unified by a print of a flower on both.

My still life painting, All Dressed Up, was in the WCACO Members Exhibit, Body of Knowledge, at Niza Knoll Gallery in the Santa Fe Arts District of Denver during the month of February, 2024. This oil on canvas painting was created in the fall of 2021 when, because of covid, I often felt very much like I was all dressed up with no where to go. This is a 10”x10” oil on canvas, framed in natural pine to approximately 12”x12”.

Exhibiting in 2023

Two of my paintings were included in the October “Skulls and Bones” exhibit at Memento Mori Gallery in the 40 West Arts District of Denver, CO, which ran Oct 6-28, 2023. 6451 West Colfax Ave, Suite B, Lakewood, CO 80214. To read more about these paintings and this exhibit, check out my blog post, “Painting Skulls”.

When I saw the call for artwork that depicts “scenes and activities related to life on the eastern prairie” of Colorado, I knew I would be submitting these pieces for consideration. All three were on display at the 1st Annual Art on the Prairie Show at the Plains Conservation Center, 21901 E. Hampden Ave, Aurora, CO 80013, July 7-14, 2023. The opening reception on July 7th included a food truck and live music, a telescope focused on bald eagles nesting in a nearby tree, and lots of beautiful art.