Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebecca Hayes.
Rebecca, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in the Portland area of Maine and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst. I majored in studio art with a concentration in painting and minored in art history. I studied abroad in France and completed a thesis show in 2015.
After graduating, I moved back to the Portland Area. I’ve worked part-time as a dog walker and waitress in order to sustain myself while pursuing my art career. My time spent waitressing was a blessing in disguise because I was able to hang and sell my work at the restaurant I work at, giving me the exposure I needed to get my foot in the door. In February of 2018, I had the opportunity to become represented by Casco Bay Artisans Art Gallery in Portland.
Seeking to differentiate myself from the crowds of landscape painters in Maine, I decided to focus my work less on the natural landscape of Maine and instead on structure and light. Using iconic buildings and interiors from the city as a visual medium for exploring painting techniques has allowed me to produce unique paintings while still identifying the viewer with the Portland area.
While I use many traditional rules and methods of realist painting, I combine them with some expressive, painterly sensibilities in order to dramatize the scene. This mixture of styles has been triggered by an overarching fascination with the abstract nature of light and the way it inhabits a space.
Through the use of photography as a reference, which I originally utilized to give myself the time to meticulously render detail, I have become intrigued by the patterns that emerge from light when it is forced to sit still, like in shadows and reflections.
Other than the gallery, I have hung in a few juried and corporate shows, along with various restaurants.
Has it been a smooth road?
I consider myself extremely lucky for the way my career has unfolded. My parents are very supportive, my dad even makes frames for my paintings himself. That does not say I don’t deal with everyday challenges, such as the demands of needing to work close to 60 hours a week in order to make enough money while still having time to paint.
However, I push through that and don’t mind long hours because I get to do what I love. I struggled with finding an identity in Portland because I found myself getting bored with natural landscapes, which I believed were the only work that was salable in this area.
Portland’s economy relies heavily on tourism, and the art world is not immune to that.
Most people who buy work here are looking for either a souvenir to remember their trip, or are Mainer’s who want to fill their house with scenes of the area they love. However, I was able to find my path by figuring out the subject matter I really like to paint (structure and light) and then applying the backdrop of Portland, rather than painting an image of a lighthouse just because I thought it would sell.
The past few years personally have been hard, mostly because my dad was diagnosed with throat cancer in the fall of 2016. From then, he went through chemo, radiation, a tracheostomy and eventually a full laryngectomy. As of today, he is clear from cancer, but for two years that has been a horrible storm cloud in my life.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Rebecca Hayes Art story. Tell us more about your artwork.
I sell original paintings at Casco Bay Artisans and various temporary locations around Maine. I also do commission pieces, however, I’m starting to veer away from that unless the commissions are relevant to my original work.
I think the subject matter of my work sets me apart from others. Most work in the area features nature landscapes, such as the rocky coast of Maine. Because I focus on the man-made parts of the area with the natural elements as a secondary backdrop, I think my work is unique to that of the typical Maine landscape painter.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I think I’m going to make a move across the country in the spring, perhaps to New Mexico. I’m intrigued by the desert aesthetic and adobe architecture, partly because it is so diametrically different from New England.
Overall though, I just want to keep expanding my scope, reaching more areas of the country and getting my work seen by more people.
Contact Info:
- Website: Rkhayes.net
- Phone: 2077768140
- Email: rkhayesart@gmail.com
- Instagram: hayess892
- Facebook: facebook.com/rkhayesart
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
