Today we’d like to introduce you to Meredith Pardue and Mike Hewett.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
We are married, and we are both painters. We each have our own individual bodies of work, but in 2017 we decided to create a collaborative body of work that combines our two different aesthetics of realism and abstraction.
Please tell us about your art.
Photorealist painter Michael Hewett and abstract painter Meredith Pardue began a collaborative body of work in 2017 that combines their vastly different approaches to painting on a shared canvas. While there are variations in the creative process of each painting, generally the artists’ work separately, but in tandem. Pardue and Hewett begin each piece by designing the compositions together. Pardue then creates the abstract grounds with various water based media, often incorporating graphic elements such as stencils and cut outs, and establishing distinct divisions of space through collaged handmade papers and masked sections of paint. Once the grounds are complete, Hewett begins painting the realistic, but expressive imagery of the compositions using the historical medium of oil paint.
Pardue Hewett debuted their collaboration with a body of work depicting trees in isolation against an abstract ground. Some of the grounds are abstract atmospheres, and others are flat graphic spaces that contrast starkly with the three dimensionality of the trees. Each tree is presented as an individual, which is of course quite different than how they generally exist in nature. This singular presentation in an altered and unexpected environment echoes a range of historical portraiture, and the vertical nature of the tree itself furthers this suggestion. The work has a sensibility that is often magical or haunting, mirroring that of nature in its most sublime or fleeting presentations, and the notion of personification is the root of this sensibility.
Choosing a creative or artistic path comes with many financial challenges. Any advice for those struggling to focus on their artwork due to financial concerns?
We have learned that if the internal drive to create artwork exists inside of a person, then they will find a way to create regardless of struggles or obstacles. We think of it as a fire that cannot be put out. There is a great number of ways to overcome financial obstacles. For example, an aspiring artist does not need to live in NYC to create work–choose a place that has a lower cost of living. Select materials that are less expensive such as creating artworks on paper, which are also less expensive to ship. Work a low stress day job or a part time job that affords you the many hours that are required to develop your work over time. Market your work in ways that do not cost money such as social media, artist websites, and blogs. Reach out to interior designers and galleries who can help you share your work with the world.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
People can see our work in our studios in Austin, Texas by appointment, or view the work online here: http://www.meredithpardue.com/work/exhibitions/pardue-hewett
Contact Info:
- Website: meredithpardue.com, mikehewettstudio.com
- Email: studio@meredithpardue.com, mchewett01@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meredithparduestudio/ https://www.instagram.com/mikehewettstudio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meredithparduestudio/ https://www.facebook.com/Mike-Hewett-1371317149561317/
Image Credit:
Black and white images Copyright Christopher Durst
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