Artist Statements
Cliff Hauptman
During my professional career, I have been a corporate writer, photographer, graphic designer, motion picture editor, outdoor writer, author, fishing columnist, and communications director, often concurrently. Many of the digital drawings in this exhibit are inspired by my photographs, but they contain no photographic elements and are drawn line by line from scratch, using the computer’s mouse as a pen and brush. Once printed, I further enhance each archival pigment print with pastels so that each becomes a unique, mixed-media original. I create these digital drawings using Adobe Illustrator. They are vector graphics, which are based on mathematical equations and can be resized to any dimension without pixilating. My digital drawings have a highly graphical quality, which becomes transformed, in varying degrees, by the application of additional details and textures in chalk pastels. The result is a colorfully saturated melding of graphic design and fine art, a changing edge where precision and impression interface. Visit www.cliffhauptman.com.
Susie Hauptman
My necklace designs are inspired by my travels in the Southwest and reflect the desert colors and Native American cultures. While hiking in the high desert, I collect many of the stones I use in my work. One of my favorite places to collect the luminous agates is the area around Abiquiu where Georgia O’Keeffe lived and worked. After polishing and drilling holes, I incorporate these beautiful stones into my work. I also include fossils and petrified wood in some of my pieces. I purchase other stones from Native Americans selling their beads at roadside stands and in small shops in New Mexico. I combine my passion for crochet into my longer necklaces by crocheting with silk thread and waxed cotton. Some of my crochet shawls, market bags, a shell box, and purses are also on display.