Much like her artwork, Beth Hammack’s studio reflects an appreciation of all genres. Baskets overflow with paints in every color and brushes in every size, and a box of pastels lies open on the floor. Charcoal, pens and paper remain within reach. Favorite art books — depicting works from classical masters to contemporary visionaries — line the walls. A black-and-white photo of a cowboy is pinned on the wall, next to an abstract in progress, while other clippings are stacked upright in nearby boxes, awaiting their turn to inspire.
Though Hammack is particularly known for her abstract paintings, she doesn’t limit her creative output. Sketching, she said, is her first love. In fact, most of her abstract works are born by drawing. Sometimes the images are clearly visible; other times they appear as blurred lines or become buried under layers of paint, hidden altogether.
“There’s something about drawing it, covering it up, drawing again, covering it up and adding color along the way. It’s just joyful,” Hammack said. “Yeah, but it’s frustrating too, because you have pieces you are still trying to tweak — but a good abstract artist knows, ‘Quit. I got it.’”
Large abstract canvases are contrasted by her frequent forays into realism, still-life paintings and Native American portraits. Each stands ready for Hammack’s review and reflection, when she makes that all-important call: Is it finished yet?
“You stare at it every morning when you’re fresh-eyed,” Hammack described her process. “You may quit on it that night and be down and out, but then you go, ‘Oh, I get to wake up in the morning and work on that some more,’ and if you have that energy, you do it. There’s one day you get up and go, ‘I like it just the way it is.’ And if you’re staring at it for two or three days, and you’re not overwhelmed to fix it, you’re done — and you’re best to pass it on to the world.”
With a 17-year relationship with Joy Reed Belt and the JRB Art gallery, Hammack has been able to launch many of her artistic wonders into the world. Recently, she’s been producing and selling Native American portraits alongside her abstract works. To Hammack, realism and abstract art fit together quite naturally.
“If you cannot produce realism, you really shouldn’t journey into the abstract. I think you have to kind of prove a level of accomplishment, and then you can take off and go from there … To me it’s a development and a journey,” said Hammack, adding that abstract work allows a level of artistic freedom not found in realism, since you can tell immediately when a person’s face isn’t painted proportionally. “What I enjoy about abstract [art] is that there are no rules.”
One glance around Hammack’s studio, and the “no rules” notion fits: All of the supplies, all of the genres. In this creative space, anything goes.
