House Tableau

Ariana Huggett on May 3, 2019

Part of an ongoing project of painting on location Milwaukee’s historic architecture as subject.

What interests me in painting architecture interiors and exteriors of primarily historic buildings?

Most of the following ideas are not present in the paintings themselves, but are implied in the structure of the house and the objects it contains.

  • There are the people who built the houses: architects, designers, and fabricators.
  • There are the people who lived in the houses.
  • There are the materials and the history of where the materials came from.
  • There are the the loving details and craftsmanship.
  • There are the people who support the functioning of the house.
  • There are the visitors.
  • There are events and history that occur during its lifetime.
  • There is the evolving and changing community around it.
  • There is the evolving and changing purpose of the house.
  • There is the personality of the building. It’s sounds. It’s soul.

A house (and this can be extended to architecture in general) contains what’s public and what’s private. Visible and hidden. Much like a human, architecture is an embodiment and extension of the body.

Patti's Room, oil on wood, 8" x 8", 2018

Painting Manifesto

Ariana Huggett on October 15, 2018

I started this little manifesto when I was working on my artist’s statement for the recent Mary Nohl Fellowship application. I don’t think I’m alone in finding writing artist’s statements to be an onerous undertaking. The manifesto is not the statement that I ended up using, but it did help.

Painting is a refuge from constant distractions. Painting is a place of reflection, examination, joy of being – celebration of the small things.
Painting is process. Painting is outside the comfort zone. It is hard.
Painting holds a moment. It is experience and memory. It is an object. It is analog and occupies space. It is me. It is not me.
Painting is raw materials. Painting is oil, pigment, hair, wood – clouds, rain, wind – songs and voices. Sandpaper, shellac, sunshine, sweat and conversations. It is death and tears. Heaviness. Heavy heart.
Painting is light. Lighter, lightening up. It is the earth. It is the past and it is now. It is the future before it is.
Painting is sight. Painting is being outside of yourself. Painting is insight.
Painting is translation.