MJ Hison

Artist Statement

Here's a polished profile statement drawing from her artist statement, CV, and background:

Artistic Practice, Influences & Themes — Mary Joan Hinson, PhD
My practice is rooted in a lifelong devotion to oil paint — a medium I returned to again and again after exploring acrylics, watercolor, gouache, encaustic, and paint markers. There is something irreplaceable in the way oil pigment builds texture and luminosity, transforming a flat surface into a world that feels more dream than reality.
I work without a preconceived notion of color or design. Natural rhythms take over: strokes and hues emerge as deconstruction turns into form, and the unification of chaos becomes the matter of course. My compositions are driven by the momentary effects of light, air, and water movement, and I frequently draw on Fibonacci sequences to create structures that feel both mathematically grounded and organically alive.
My subjects are nature, animals, and pure abstraction. I have spent decades studying the masters — with Botticelli and Michelangelo in close gaze during my studies in Europe — and that reverence for craftsmanship runs through everything I make. Equally present are the landscapes, shorebirds, horses, and coastal rhythms of the American Southeast, where I have lived and taught for thirty years.
My influences range from the Formalist tradition to Surrealism, from the color field painters to the natural world itself. I am drawn to work that carries emotional weight and psychological depth — work where common objects are placed in unexpected juxtaposition, and where the viewer is invited to question what is real and what is dreamed.
My goal is always the same: that the people who encounter my work leave with more energy and joy than they arrived with. When a patron tells me, "This work changed my life," I know that the conversation between the painting and its viewer has done what I most hoped it would.