For years I have used small collages as ideas for developing paintings but have started adding the collages directly into the paintings. The edges of the paper create subtle shifts in the underlying structure as well as the images. My process involves making prints of plants to collage and working in layers with the positive and negative space. It has become a ritual to come back with loads of local plants, experiment with the printed images and see where that takes the painting. I am interested in the blurring of abstraction and representation and this distills my view of the landscape. The balance of warm and cool is important to me as is the structure and color harmony. My work is about transformation, connection and how things go together.
I have spent over 40 years in western Colorado, mostly on farms and ranches and each has shaped my perspective and voice. I’ve continued to study throughout my life and have worked with many great artists at Anderson Ranch. I have also had an artists residency at the Santa Fe Art Institute and was an intern for Sheila Hicks in Paris. My work has been in House Beautiful, Santa Barbara, and Colorado Homes & Lifestyles magazines.
Although I never set out to focus on botanical forms, the prints I make from collected plants have led my work in a completely new direction-one deeply rooted in place, process and discovery.
Hunters work is included in several corporate collections including Sterling Drug, Chugai-Upjohn, Ernst and Young, Satellite Health Care of Mountain View, Ca., and the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa. One of her tapestries was included in a show entitled “Significant Colorado Women Artists of the 20th Century” which traveled around the western region and also to the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.