Statement
I use oil paint and watercolor to develop richly saturated, layered paintings. I focus on transparency and gesture to create dynamic, bold compositions that contrast with a subtle and well-defined palette. I am most interested in the natural world, how we interact with it and what we can learn about ourselves from it. My practice includes creating on-site watercolor studies and notebooks sketches, during which I am sensitive to the energy and history of the location. I develop this work into larger-scale contemplative abstract oil paintings which represent an intimate bond between nature and spirit.
My fascination with light and landscape developed very early on while growing up in Maine drawing and painting the dramatic coastline. I continue to be inspired by the ever-brilliant reflections, strong linear quality of the jagged rocks, deeply rooted trees and the dramatic skyline. My deep connection with nature informs my spiritual and artistic practices and through this exploration I believe we are able to know ourselves and others more completely.
Biography
Inness Hancock is a painter whose work builds upon tradition to re-define the concept of American Landscape Painting for the 21st century. Her finely-honed skills are rooted in enduring techniques and themes. The influence of her great uncle George Inness, the American painter, is seen in her deference to beauty and technique. But her unique gift lies in exploring an expanded sense of “landscape” – not just the visual experience of the external world, but the inner landscape of the human mind and spirit. Hancock synthesizes outer and inner realms into deft compositions displaying nuance of color, texture, depth, and contrast. She actively explores human connection to nature and how it creates opportunity for understanding human interconnectedness.
Hancock’s education, interdisciplinary interests, and career history have informed her current art-making practice. She studied art and philosophy to explore life’s deeper meaning. Her engagement with spiritual themes has had broad impact, garnering the attention of inspired thinkers. Her artwork was referenced in The Spiritual in Art, a 2015 thesis written by Yale Divinity student Betsy Moss. Hancock has fostered the opportunity for greater conversation around sacred topics. She founded Children’s Prayers for the People, an international, non-denominational, arts-based project that invites children aged 4-18 to share their art among communities of varying faiths, languages, and lifestyles. As a natural extension of her aesthetic integrity and creative experimentation, Hancock pursued successful careers as both art dealer and bespoke interior designer in Manhattan while devoting herself to full-time art making and raising two boys.
Hancock cultivates a deep respect for nature, and is committed to the conservation of wildlife and historic and natural landmarks. She has travelled extensively within the US and abroad to explore special locales, and has rendered over two dozen UNESCO World Heritage Sites in nine countries. She was awarded an Artist Residency by Arte Studio Ginestrelle to paint in Assisi, Italy, and was invited by the United States Department of Interiors to paint California’s Whiskeytown Recreational Area and Yosemite National Park. She was sponsored by the eco-conscious apparel brand BUFF.
Her work resides in many private collections, and has been featured in exhibitions at venues including Katonah Museum of Art and Chroma Fine Arts Gallery in Katonah, NY; Downing Yudain in Stamford, CT; Red Fox Gallery in Pound Ridge, NY; The Carriage Barn Art Center in New Canaan, CT; The US Dept of Interiors in Whiskeytown, CA; Gallery 360 Tellus in Lancaster, PA; 123 Main Street and Wingspread Gallery in Northeast Harbor, ME; Lindhurst Gallery in Los Angeles, CA, Pleiades Gallery and Ceres Gallery in New York, NY. Hancock has contributed to the vibrancy of art organizations close to her heart. She has served as Creative Director and a Board Member for Art in Store in Katonah, New York. She has twice curated Art Show Bedford in New York, and has been a Co-Chair and Advisory Committee Member of Global Fine Art Awards (GFAA). Inness Hancock lives and works in Bedford, NY and Northeast Harbor, Maine.
Education
Arts Student’s League of New York Lifetime member
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
BA, College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina