Hector Acuna: Artist in Residence at Bratt Woods Nature Preserve
May 6, 2024 | Topics: featured artist
The Natural Realm presents Hector Acuna, who is among 12 artists participating in a year-long residency program called ARTservancy, a collaboration between Gallery 224 in Port Washington and the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust, River Revitalization Foundation, Milwaukee Area Land Conservancy, Tall Pines Conservancy, and Lake Michigan Bird Observatory. The mission of ARTservancy is to promote the visionary work of both the artists and conservationists. Each artist has selected a preserve to spend time in and to engage with.
Artist Statement by Hector Acuna
My ARTservancy residency is with the Lake Michigan Bird Observatory. So far, I’ve spent most of my residency painting at Bratt Woods Nature Preserve which is very close to where I live. I generally paint both in my studio and outdoors en plein air; the latter has been my focus for the residency.
I went into this experience with an open mind about the art I’ll create. Painting en plein air offers freedom to discover my subject matter through organic encounters on location. Recently I’ve become interested in painting trees from observation, much like I would paint a portrait. In both, I aim to capture a sense of likeness, visual character, and individuality. I’ve only painted a few tree portraits so far and being that Bratt Woods is filled with a variety of mature trees it made sense to start with a tree portrait.
In early February I began an oil painting of a large tree, which I believe is a type of maple. It has a large cavity in the lower center of its trunk. I don’t know why the tree looks this way. What I do know is that I was drawn to it because of its abstract shapes and color contrasts between the bark and interior layers. This tree created a visceral response in me and as I started to paint, I began to see it as a sign of resilience and adaptation. Other ideas were generated during my process, too: vulnerability, growth vs decay, and the human body.
I’ve been treating this portrait as an in-depth visual study across multiple painting sessions on location. So far, I’ve worked on the painting across six afternoons in February and March. I may continue to work on this painting a bit more as the year progresses and would like to incorporate other elements or subjects into the painting as well.
While I’ve been painting, I’ve enjoyed the bareness of the forest without most of the leaves during the late winter months and early spring. There was a very limited earthy palette at first glance, but the longer I looked the more chroma and hues I began to see. The bark has appeared silverish, greenish, orangeish, blueish, violetish, reddish, and countless versions of brown. My focus has shifted from the foreground dimensions of the tree to the neighboring trees around it, to the riverbank grasses, the Milwaukee River, and the western bank of the river where residential properties are located. One of the things I enjoy about this location is that I don’t feel totally isolated in nature. Bratt Woods is a relatively small preserve adjacent to the Ozaukee County Interurban Trail and nearby homes so I feel somewhat close to the busyness of day to day life for locals in the area. When I paint en plein air I gravitate towards spaces that are man made a lot of the time. I enjoy observing spaces that emphasize architecture, automobiles, and other objects that tell a narrative and hold a sense of the present moment in time.
The portrait of this tree has been an intentional step towards depicting a small part of the natural world while still searching for a sense of history. It’s been interesting to observe the opposing forces of the river and trees blowing in the wind against the static and grounded quality of the tree trunks. The cropped view in my composition presents the tree with a confrontational proximity that I find interesting and maybe unsettling at times. When I shared the painting in progress online, someone commented that “I was the Georgia O’Keeffe of painting trees” with a laughing emoji. I see some subliminal overlaps between the anatomy of her flower paintings and my tree portrait. I appreciate that someone thought of O’Keeffe’s work. I admire her paintings and their comment reminded me to look at Georgia’s paintings again, especially ones that centered on themes of growth and decay.
I’ve only had a few encounters with wildlife in Bratt Woods so far. My favorite sight was watching a large pileated woodpecker flying through the trees. Their chiseling sounds echoed throughout the forest and made a fun game of I Spy. I’ve never been much of a birder, but seeing the large red crested bird has sparked a new interest that may inform where my work develops. In the brief research I’ve done on the pileated woodpecker, one of the interesting things I’ve learned is how their chipping process allows numerous species in their habitat to survive and prosper. Other birds who migrate into their forests sometimes make nests in the holes that woodpeckers have dug. I’ve made a handful of paintings over the years that incorporate anthropomorphic forms of animal-human characters. I’d like to experiment with bringing figurative elements into my ARTservancy paintings to explore personal mythologies and other narratives.
It’s hard to believe a quarter of the year has already passed yet I feel like there’s still so much to explore. What I’ve appreciated most so far about this opportunity is that it is allowing me to slow down and sit with a subject for much longer than I might otherwise. I’m excited to see where this work and my experience in Bratt Woods is going as the year unfolds.
Gallery
Hector Acuna Bio:
Born in 1993, I am a professional artist and educator living in Grafton, Wisconsin. I studied at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point where I earned my Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2015. I then completed my Master of Fine Arts from Michigan State University in 2020. I have taught classes in drawing, painting, sculpture, and color/design for private lessons, group workshops, and at the university level. I’ve been an invited juror and awards judge for regional exhibitions and currently serve as a volunteer committee member in the Cedarburg Artists Guild.
I have had small group and solo exhibitions at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Scarabocchio Art Museum, Saugatuck Center for the Arts, and Noel Fine Arts Center. My work has also been juried into exhibitions at the Wisconsin Museum of Art, Site:Brooklyn Gallery, Trout Museum of Art, Baton Rouge Gallery, South Haven Center for the Arts, and Wheaton College. I have received various awards and grants including the Hipstamatic Entrepreneurship Award. My work has been commissioned by musicians, including album artwork for Milwaukee artists Emmitt James and the group Soul Low. My paintings are held in public and private collections throughout the United States and have received over twenty-five awards since my first plein air competition in 2021. Recent awards include First Place at the 2024 Lighthouse Plein Air Festival, Best of Show at the 2022 Door County Plein Air Festival, Best New Artist at the 2023 Bath County Plein Air Festival, and 2nd Place at the 2023 Plein Air Texas event. At the 2023 Plein Air Convention & Expo, I was named the M. Stephen Doherty Breakthrough Artist of the Year. Plein Air Magazine published an article titled “Age of Exploration” on my work in their 2023 Oct/Nov issue. At PACE24, I will be one of eighty invited faculty plein air artists teaching at the convention in Cherokee, NC.
This residency is sponsored by Lake Michigan Bird Observatory and Ozaukee Washington Land Trust. To learn more about Bratt Woods Nature Preserve go to our Find-a-Park page.
Related stories:
Gina Litherland: Artist in Residence at Bratt Woods Preserve (ARTservancy)
Treasures of OZ Eco-Tour 2020 (Bratt Woods)
This is the latest in our series of featured artists, which is intended to showcase the work of photographers, artists, writers and other creative individuals in our community whose subjects or themes relate in some broad sense to nature, urban nature, people in nature, etc. To see a list of previously featured artists, click here. The work of the 2022-2023 ARTservancy artists in residence is currently being exhibited monthly at Gallery 224. To meet the other ARTservancy artists in residence, click here.
All images courtesy of the artist, except as noted. Ozaukee Washington Land Trust is a project partner of A Wealth of Nature.