Gallery reflections

A timeless question asks:

In a corner of Ketchum’s light-industrial zone, in a studio nestled between construction companies and lumber yards, artist Heather Hansen puts a thoroughly modern twist on the ancient art form of fresco. Working in a converted warehouse, this Idaho native weds the spirit of Renaissance Italy with the natural splendor of her home state, creating abstract expressionist frescoes that break the mold of an ancient medium.

Fresco is the technique of painting natural pigments on a moist plaster surface, usually a wall or ceiling. The Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, with scenes by Michelangelo and Botticelli among others, is the most famous example. For Hansen, inspiration came with the experience of seeing Botticelli’s exquisite fresco Venus and the Three Graces at The Louvre in Paris.

Beyond a few lessons in plastering from a local contractor, she is self-taught and feels free to break the medium’s rigid rules. One of her most successful rebellions has been to remove fresco from its natural habitat, to take it off the wall. The resulting three-dimensional sculptures, suspended from steel cables, are a natural progression for Hansen, who is passionate that her art be tactile. "When I saw that Botticelli, I just wanted to reach out and touch it; that’s what really drew me in."

Her finished pieces have little of the gloss or precision associated with the religious art that popularized fresco in medieval Europe. In their place is a raw naturalism. "I searched for ways to bring nature into my work both in theme and material." Her studio is littered with curios from the land, many of which find their way into her paintings, either as inspiration or in physical form. From a burnt branch ravaged by the Castle Rock wildfire to a fox skull unearthed on a hike with her son, Joji, Hansen’s creations may stem from one of the world’s oldest art forms, but their roots are planted firmly in Idaho.