
Danish artist challenges conventional boundaries
Steven Lundeen Copy Editor Sun Star AK U.S.A. The dark, abstract world of Danish artist Charlotte Hanmann is laced with shadows and intriguing contradictions. Small streams of light trip sparingly among the darker colors in Hanmann's work predominantly grays, browns and blacks. Images bring to mind storms, swirling winds and tangled thickets. "See as many paintings asyou can," Hanmann told a group of UAF art students that gathered in a darkened studio last week to view slides of her work. "You have to study; you must have a tradition." Then, in the next breath, she let fly the paradox that appears to lie at the heart of her unique artistic process. "On the other hand," Hanmann said with a laugh, "there are no rules." Hanmann is an artist-in-residence at UAF this semester. She came to Fairbanks as part of the Nordic House Program, a program that was established, according to director Merete Jakobsen, to promote cultural exchange between. Alaska and the countries of Scandinavia. Hanmann's works have appeared in numerous juried art shows in Denmark. A collection of her photographs has been featured in a Canadian exhibition. And when she leaves Fairbanks in April, she will fly to yet another show in Poland.	"When you are traveling you are much more alert," she said. "You come across buildings and odd things that nobody else notices." Her love of buildings may have its roots in her past. Hanmann, who gives her age as "somewhere between 13 and 100," originally studied to be an architect, but gave up the discipline's precision, form and figure in the 1970s. Since then, her training has primarily been an exercise in selfstudy and observation. "The thing I like best, in life is to go to the museum or to look at art in the library," she said. "I get high, intoxicated, looking at art." Although she reveres the work of the old masters, Hanmann often createsher own art by unorthodox means. Some of the tools she employs could be more easily found in a kitchen than in a professional studio. Several years ago, for example, while living in a remote location in Sweden, Hanmann scratched her artwork into printing plates using a potato peeler, a knife and a fork. The resulting works are stark and barren much like the landscape in Denmark, she said. "The people of Mexico make bright paintings because the sun is shining every day," Hanmann said. "Denmark is small, flat and introverted. The highest, mountain is 100 feet tall." Until this year, Hanmann had never been to the United States. Yet she is no stranger to American culture. Probe too deeply into her past, and she quotes an unlikely hero, John Wayne. "Looking back is a bad habit," Hanmann said with a smile.

Danish artist challenges conventional boundaries

Steven Lundeen
Copy Editor
Sun Star
AK U.S.A.

The dark, abstract world of Danish artist Charlotte Hanmann is laced with shadows and intriguing contradictions. Small streams of light trip sparingly among the darker colors in Hanmann's work predominantly grays, browns and blacks. Images bring to mind storms, swirling winds and tangled thickets. "See as many paintings asyou can," Hanmann told a group of UAF art students that gathered in a darkened studio last week to view slides of her work. "You have to study; you must have a tradition." Then, in the next breath, she let fly the paradox that appears to lie at the heart of her unique artistic process. "On the other hand," Hanmann said with a laugh, "there are no rules." Hanmann is an artist-in-residence at UAF this semester. She came to Fairbanks as part of the Nordic House Program, a program that was established, according to director Merete Jakobsen, to promote cultural exchange between. Alaska and the countries of Scandinavia. Hanmann's works have appeared in numerous juried art shows in Denmark. A collection of her photographs has been featured in a Canadian exhibition. And when she leaves Fairbanks in April, she will fly to yet another show in Poland.

"When you are traveling you are much more alert," she said. "You come across buildings and odd things that nobody else notices." Her love of buildings may have its roots in her past. Hanmann, who gives her age as "somewhere between 13 and 100," originally studied to be an architect, but gave up the discipline's precision, form and figure in the 1970s. Since then, her training has primarily been an exercise in selfstudy and observation. "The thing I like best, in life is to go to the museum or to look at art in the library," she said. "I get high, intoxicated, looking at art." Although she reveres the work of the old masters, Hanmann often createsher own art by unorthodox means. Some of the tools she employs could be more easily found in a kitchen than in a professional studio. Several years ago, for example, while living in a remote location in Sweden, Hanmann scratched her artwork into printing plates using a potato peeler, a knife and a fork. The resulting works are stark and barren much like the landscape in Denmark, she said. "The people of Mexico make bright paintings because the sun is shining every day," Hanmann said. "Denmark is small, flat and introverted. The highest, mountain is 100 feet tall." Until this year, Hanmann had never been to the United States. Yet she is no stranger to American culture. Probe too deeply into her past, and she quotes an unlikely hero, John Wayne. "Looking back is a bad habit," Hanmann said with a smile.