How do the indeterminate spaces around us become known? Does a line on a map exist only if it is travelled or defended? In order to investigate these invisible systems, I employ methods and techniques from the two fields in which I am trained, geography and printmaking.
Using both the language and abstract space of the map, printing has become my method of navigating the blurry terrain between what is there and what is not, what is visible and what is imagined. In my etchings, I make marks that accumulate and coalesce to become larger configurations. This process of making etchings involves a contemplative process of gathering lines, in a steadily increasing quantity that come together and group. In this work the marks assemble and can be considered as a whole, but would not be without each fragment, each delicate line. Creating and collecting these marks, these insignificant parts swell up and unite, making us notice them. Although we attempt to categorize and delineate the world we live in, at times it is difficult to grasp and understand.
My etchings are metaphors for indicating the known and unknown. Through investigating marks and patterns, employing scale and movement, I am creating my own interpretation of the imaginary boundaries and spaces we exist in.
Virginia Hungate-Hawk is a visual artist and educator, working in traditional and contemporary printmaking. Her work references cartography and the invisible systems around us. In her etchings, she makes marks that accumulate and coalesce to become larger configurations.
Virginia earned her MFA in Printmaking from the University of Notre Dame and a BA in Studio Art and Geography from Macalester College. Her prints have been exhibited nationally and internationally and are held in several private and public collections including the University of Iowa, Southern Graphics Council International Archive, and Syracuse University.
Virginia has taught at the University of Notre Dame, Kirkland Art Center, Gage Academy of Art, Seattle Art Museum, Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, and she currently teaches at Pratt Fine Arts Center and Stadium High School. Virginia is represented by Davidson Gallery in Seattle, WA.