All posts by Geri Hahn

Emotions, Fabric, Sound, Synesthesia

“Deep Listening: Thank You Pauline Oliveros”

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Silk on silk with metallic, linen and cotton floss and metallic and cotton thread.  30″x30″

The great composer and musician and all round creative Pauline Oliveros taught me more than words can express.  When I “came out” as an Artist in 2014, she not only always “liked” my work as I was tentatively beginning to show it on Facebook, but copied most of it to her FB page to share with others. Her “Deep Listening” process gave me a way to focus on the sounds that so importantly influence my art making.  I  was so very lucky to have had this woman as friend.

This piece was created after spending an hour out of doors when the world was noisy with some birds still calling at dusk- the wood thrush was strident, and the insects, traffic, airplanes, neighbors kids talking and laughing, the chatter of walkers on my street, and the wind in the trees added to the general shape of the sounds I noted as inspiration.  This is pulled through my image of Pauline’s magical and ever present, accordion.

 

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Emotions, Photo

“I was Hungry and You Gave Me Food”

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In the spring of 2016, I was invited by Matthew Gosser, (curator and teacher at NJIT’s College of Architecture and Design, involved with the historic preservation of many of Newark’s landmark buildings,) to create art based on my personal experience with the Queen of Angels, a historic church on Belmont Avenue, now Irving Turner Blvd.

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                                  “I was Hungry and  You Gave Me Food”                                                                       Mixed media photos  Finished size: 17×20 inches

“I was Hungry and You Gave Me Food” is my response to the loss of this community landmark: Queen of Angles RC Church 1861-2014.  My piece was created from my photo of the residual from drug use left in a back room in the old school at the back of the Queen of Angels Church. All the colored window glass came from the same school floor.

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Because I have grown up in a liturgical church, (Episcopal) I know how important the Mass and the spiritual food given in the form of the Host is to the believing community. I also have experienced personal nurture from my church community when my first husband died young, and when I had only a 5% chance to recover from a particularly aggressive cancer. Thus I have had an intimate relationship with Matthew 25:35

I was hungry and you gave me food   I was thirsty and you gave me drink   I was sick and you visited me   I was in prison and you came to me.

The need for a way to get through life’s pain and brokenness has always existed. The church is one of the community structures to provide help. With the loss of this institution of community care, the building apparently became available for use by those still in need of being fed, the homeless and the drug users.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emotions, Print, Sound, Synesthesia

Throb and Swagger – The Sounds of Newark #10

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Newark Library Donation.JPG“Throb and Swagger- The Sounds of Newark” #10    10.5″x16.5″ Canson Arches Aquarelle Rag Paper, Enhanced Giclée Archival Print Edition 1/1        Printed for the Newark Public Library

This work is about the vitality, creativity and resilience of Newark New Jersey. My print captures the dynamic energy of the city.

In the spring of 2016, I was invited by Matthew Gosser, (curator and teacher at NJIT’s College of Architecture and Design, involved with the historic preservation of many of Newark’s landmark buildings,) to create art based on my personal experience with the Queen of Angels, a historic church on Belmont Avenue, now Irving Turner Blvd.

I spent a couple hours exploring what was a nearly completely demolished church, with most of my time seated and listening to the ambient sounds of the community. I took notes and made sketches from overheard conversations of passersby, and the ambient sounds from traffic, airplanes and nature. These sounds deeply influenced my emotional response and drawing, and was the basis for this work of art

 

Emotions, Fabric, political

What Has Happened to our Presidency?

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24.75″x 21.5″  Silk and Linen, metallic thread and floss

My narrative that the Presidency is a position of serious responsibility for the good of the entire nation, where ego is tempered by the understanding that the role requires thoughtful responses, that words matter and that personal financial aggrandizement is absolutely not ok, has been exploded.  I trust in the rule of law and my fellow citizens to restore my faith in this position.