Christy Hengst

The beginning of each piece is a leap of faith; the most unknown and the most free moment. I jump in with the first mark, and after that, the real work of listening and responding begins. It's a conversation. That’s true whether working on a painting or a larger public art project. When working on a public project, it’s usually site-specific, and I’m quite interested in the moment of perception — the moment when a person sees something they did not expect, and therefore may experience an interruption of habitual response… an opening of sorts. When working on a panting, I look for ways to weave meaningful content together with visual decisions. The layering of lithography or silkscreened images on transparent rice paper, fired porcelain, beeswax, text, direct drawing or painting, allows for ambiguous aspects of reality and an element of time to slip in. Each material has it’s own inherent characteristics to contribute — I love each of them, and choose according to what’s needed. Much of my work over the past three decades has investigated sense of place. Field research includes hiking the land with sketchbook and pencil, making drawings, taking notes and creating maps, all of which may eventually make its way into the larger paintings. The process of orientation is essentially relationship-building with a place. The deepest research of all comes from just sitting and sensing. Life is mysterious, and I hope a person is reminded of that through this work.

Christy Hengst’s artwork investigates sense of place, and heightening perceptions in people. Site-specific public projects include a treasure hunt circle of paintings in a small town in Massachusetts, three bus stops in Santa Fe, a large collaborative sculpture for a plaza in Cuenca, Ecuador, two Haiku Paths (SFCC and the Audubon Center), a collaborative boat on climate change for a playground, the four-year traveling international installation "birds in the park”, and the clandestine map-linked project, “Art in the Loo”. Hengst’s mixed media paintings have been shown in solo shows in museums and galleries in Latin America, Europe and the U.S. Hengst is married to the blacksmith Helmut Hillenkamp with whom she often collaborates, including on raising two now grown kids. She lives and works in Santa Fe, NM.

2-D, 3-D, Ceramics, Collage/Mixed Media, Drawing, Interdisciplinary/social engagement, Mosaic, Painting (all materials), Printmaking/Lithography, Sculpture