About

 

Grace Hazel lives in the

middle of the South Pacific Ocean. 

She sleeps in a blue house on windy hilltop

where the night is black, the stars scream at you,

and the chickens and

rain on the tin roof

play the daily chorus. 

She spends her days gardening,swimming at the sea and creating art, 

usually in form of analogue photography. 

She creates both black and white

and color images, sometimes experimenting with her film by soaking it.

She processes her film in her kitchen sink

or at the local darkroom that she runs.

She does not like to Photoshop her images 

nor do much editing. 

She'd rather be hanging her laundry,

picking fruit,

or cooking with mama.

The worlds within the imagery provoke 

dreamlike states and one can get lost 

in the realms that are invented. 

She often uses herself as a model with a tripod and a timer,

partly out of convenience, but also because it feeds her need for self expression through self portraiture. with the timer allowing the camera to do it's magic, the moment captured is left to the dance of chance, 

she believes the image becomes more authentic,

a candid capture without pose. 

Grace has a BA in Art from the University of California Santa Cruz, where she studied both photography and printmaking.

She enjoys making anything that is tangible and requires process,

such as cyanotypes, van dykes, albumens, lumens,

solar prints, and shell hunting.    

You might find her running in the rain at the beach, stomping in puddles, or floating through the forest with a wild look in her eye, a heavy tripod in hand, and her camera around her neck. 

 

 

Artist Statement

 

I have chosen art the same way art has chosen me.

My purpose as an artist is partly selfish but mostly altruistic; I need art in my life to express my creativity and because it feeds my soul; but I also feel a compulsion to share my perspective through my photography to  the public eye. Although photography is my primary medium, I am by nature a printmaker.

I love the process involved with print production whether I’m in the

darkroom with silver gelatin or in the printmaking studio with a copper plate. As a visual and kinesthetic learner, I yearn to use my hands and create tangibly. In this way, my art becomes real to me and I am able to better communicate with my audience what I am expressing. 

As an artist, I create images through photographic techniques,

printmaking, and mixed media, incorporating painting

and drawing into my work.

 

My themes show my connection to nature and my observations of light and space, often involving ideas of the feminine.

Within these themes, moods alter to express human experience.