Today we’d like to introduce you to Bunny Hinzman.
Bunny, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve been drawing since I could hold a crayon. I was homeschooled and my family always supported my passion for art. At a very young age, my family and I lived in New York City. We never went anywhere without our satchel filled with paper and drawing pencils. At the age of five, my sister and I would sit on the floor of the Metropolitan Museum of Art copying masterpieces. We eventually moved to Atlanta and I adopted an elderly Thoroughbred who sparked my interest in horse racing. By fourteen years old, I developed my own website, Bit’s N Bunny, which covered many aspects of horseracing. Not long after, magazines began to publish my articles. Consequently, I have issued media credentials and was invited to visit farms in Kentucky and major racing events. Having these up-close, firsthand experiences of the sport fueled my artwork.
A few years before enrolling in college, we relocated to a small farm just outside of Columbus, Georgia, where I currently have my studio. I enrolled in a university close to home, Columbus State University, so I could balance my studies with my studio practice. During this time, I organized my first solo exhibition and participated in group shows around the world. My passion for observing and studying the horse as an athlete led me to an intense focus on the human body as well. Since graduating from college with a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Art History, I have spent time in England and southern France, participating in Master Classes, researching possible residencies and post-graduate opportunities. Currently, my days are filled by working on commissions and personal artworks towards future exhibitions. At the moment, I am very excited about developing a body of work which will be exhibited this June during the music and art festival, Spoleto, at the Mary Martin Gallery in Charleston, SC.
Has it been a smooth road?
I was working quite heavily on my art and journalism before I began college, so balancing my art and academic pursuits was a big challenge. Many times the art would have to take a back seat to assignments and class time. Learning to balance my studio practice and academic life was very important for where I am today. When I was in school, another challenge was staying true to my unique artistic identity. Being exposed to so many different genres of art and having many voices telling you what your work should be (or not be!) makes the ability to decide what to reject or accept into your own work essential. My advice to young women developing their artistic practice would be to deeply investigate your interests and passions and stay true to your unique artistic identity.
We’d love to hear more about your work as an artist.
As a visual artist, I embrace drawing as a finished, highly complex medium. I use drawing as a medium that stands on its own, not as a study towards a painting or a sculpture, but as a medium that produces an intricately resolved work of art. I work hard to refine my drawing techniques to expand my interpretation of the human form. Through a concentrated study of drawing – the foundation of visual art and design – I intend to foster my ability for a medium that embraces skill and tradition.
Understanding the underlying structures of the body is at the core of my artistic practice. My early interest in anatomy began with the equine form, eventually, transitioning into the human body. In my equine drawings, I seek to expose the invisible movements and structural mechanisms that make the athleticism of the horse visible. This has been directly translated into The Movement Series, which merges the creative expression of pencil and piano. The athletic movements of the pianist are captured similarly to the power and ferocity captured in my detailed, highly anatomical drawings of racehorses. Here, I sought to capture the intricacies of the pianist’s precise movements through awareness of anatomy and the precision of the drawing process, tracing the speed, delicacy, and strength of his musical ability. Through these artworks, I deeply investigate the body, its movement and how it relates to space.
I am drawn to the Japanese aesthetic that facilitates suggestive, subtle appreciation of the human form. My most recent drawings embrace the implied beauty of the Japanese aesthetic, making ethereal glimpses of skin in breaks between darkness and light. These works are simultaneously architectural, through an investigation of anatomical structure, and show the fluidity of the body through the disappearance and reappearance of the human form.
The human form’s interaction with space has always sparked my interest. Particularly, my most recent figurative works from life investigate the human form’s movement and its engagement with space and void. These drawings incorporate the Japanese ideas of ma (space). An awareness of mass and non-mass, an interaction between the body and space, ma is experienced in the mind of the person who interacts with these elements. The use of ma creates an intimate interaction between the body and its surroundings – in my work, lightness, and darkness. I deliberately apply the concepts of ma to capture the body and the space around the figure. With these ideas in mind, I am pushing towards a way to unify abstraction with something highly finished and representational. Emphasizing anatomy and drawing together, I investigate the human form in space and hope to advance this dialogue with my previous art historical research relating to these cultural concepts.
What’s the most important piece of advice you could give to a young woman just starting her career?
Accept you will have to work tirelessly not only at what you are pursuing but also realize you must nurture the business-end of your passion. Also, I believe it is very important to support and give back to the community that surrounds you and your work. Columbus is a rapidly growing art community and I would consider it an honor to someday be part of that legacy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bunnyhinzman.com
- Email: bunnyhinzmanart@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bunnyhinzman/
Image Credit:
Courtesy Bunny Hinzman
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