MSAC: What is the core concern of your art over these years as an artist?
Hanna Pettyjohn (“HP” hereafter): I've been concerned with how to convey ideas through the visual language of painting, how to capture unseen concepts such as experiences, the atmosphere of a space or environment, and the passage of time. It is also important to me to keep evolving as a painter - to paint different textures in a uniform way is easy and comfortable. It is important to me to keep experimenting with my strokes, the brush, and paint.
MSAC: Your parents Jon and Tessy Pettyjohn are renowned artists working with clay. Did you decide to be an artist under their influence?
HP: I think having artists for parents made the idea very approachable; I knew what being an artist entailed, and the good and bad things it could come with. They were very supportive, but occasionally worried about how I would make a living just like every other parent would.
MSAC: You started up as a sculptor working with clay and wax. What made you turn to painting?
HP: To me, it was a natural step to take after working with clay. It just felt right, even though it was a scary transition to make, since I've always been much more comfortable with working in clay, three-dimensionally. It’s a very interesting challenge to try to convey the same things (like texture) in two-dimensional form after doing the same thing three-dimensionally.
MSAC: Please share with us about the event, trend or person influenced you deeply along the way.
HP: I think travel has helped me to learn certain things about myself, making me more confident in what ideas I wanted to convey, as an artist. It also leads to the realization of my place in the world and the journey of self-discovery that inevitably happened. I’ve come to realize that I will always be displaced and that home to me is more than one place. I think a lot of my work has something to do with this idea of displacement and home.
Going to college in the University of the Philippines also taught me a lot and opened my mind to what art could be.
MSAC: In your 2013 solo exhibition “Witherland” held at MSAC, you showed pairs of paintings in which portraits of yourself and people close to you were paired up with a depiction of the clothes they wore. A speculation about home and away was provoked through the contemplating facial expression, the situation of the subject and the contrast between the dry landscapes of Texas and the warmth of the textile. We see some continuity at your latest exhibition “A Web of When and Where” such as the clothes and rich textures, but also differences such as the absence of human and surreal settings. What is the idea behind this show?
HP: A common theme in my art is to make connections between all the work. Each exhibition and painting is a continuation of the narrative. In isolating the parts one finds connections through the isolation. The portraits came first, then the human element was removed and the paintings then focused on the clothes they wore. Then this was reduced into small paintings of each isolated part.
I think if you’ve seen the past works, that you still feel the absence of the human being in these new works. Since I’ve reused many of the same pieces of cloths, you know that they were once worn by someone.
MSAC: You live in the US and the Philippines. Are the source material and backdrops of this exhibition more related to the US or the Philippines?
HP: It's about a conversation between the two places. When I am in each place I am both home and away.
I like the idea of bringing an environment to a different environment, echoing my feelings of being displaced. Showing contrast, somehow. Many of the elements were sourced in Texas, creating a contrast with their surroundings when exhibited in Asia.
MSAC: It seems like you focus more on objects rather than people in this exhibition. How do you see this shift of subject?
HP: It is still in line with my previous works as I also had paintings of objects in “Witherland”. I used many of the same pieces of cloth and other elements, so one still feels the presence of the people that once wore them.
MSAC: You named the paintings in “A Web of When and Where” as Unearthed followed by different letters and numbers. Are the titles implying clothes as relics which were rediscovered to reveal some forgotten stories?
HP: Yes, very much so. That is accurate. I’ve been reusing the same pieces of clothes/relics for a few years (in Witherland for example) so one gets a sense of a “backstory”, that the fabrics were once used and worn and had been somewhere, been worn by people.
MSAC: Paintings in this show fall into two categories. The large canvas depicting multiple clothes on earth seems more like what you did for “Witherland”. Why are you so attracted to clothes and earth?
HP: I am really drawn to textures - be it hair, skin, fabric, earth. It’s a challenge in painting for me to try conveying each texture in a different way. I think that this stems from working with clay, which is soft and receives texture very well. The earth and the fabric were in previous works, so I am continuing the story.
I really like the idea of connecting my works by using recurring images and elements. Repetition, painting the object over and over again in many forms, is a way to isolate and meditate on each element.
MSAC: Are these clothes belonged to you and your friends?
HP: I have a cousin who makes costumes for fun. He sources fabric that has once been used for something else, finds scraps from second hand stores. I like the idea that these pieces of cloth had a backstory, even though I did not know what they were.
MSAC: The second category is composed of small paintings each showing a single cloth floating against an undefined back ground. This is quite different from your previous works which are often very realistic with well defined space. What is the motivation of this new development and what would you like to express through it?
HP: I think the isolation of parts that belong to the larger paintings put focus and emphasis on each element.
I wanted to place each element in a new environment of white and wavy air, and brown earth, or a journey.
MSAC: The clay dripping down the exhibition wall echo the dripping in your painting. What effect do you expect the installation make?
HP: The installation should unify each individual painting, and give “A Web of When and Where” a place in the narrative of my art. It implies direction and space, the passage of time, a map that connects everything through a space – a web.
MSAC: Combining different textures in one painting is a very unique feature of your work. What is the meaning of rendering different textures and combining them to form a painting to you? What is the challenge?
HP: I believe this has to do with my ideas regarding painting. I think one needs to try hard not become complacent; painting to me isn’t just about transferring an image to the canvas, but the process.
Instead of doing what is comfortable, I am always struggling to express texture in different ways. It takes longer, but I like it. My mind has to be completely focused as I figure out how to do something instead of it being an automatic action. I think it is an almost sculptural approach or mindset, expressing texture in this way.
MSAC: Any plans for the future?
HP: I’m going to start taking a few graduate classes in Texas, to push me out of my comfort zone. I think I need to be exposed to a Western point of view towards art, to help me understand my place in the Philippines and in Texas.
