Shawn Huckins

Shawn Huckins on making work that confronts the viewer with their own place in the climate emergency, using windows as a framing device, & finding beauty in surprising landscapes.

How did you get into making art?

I had a very typical childhood of making art in sketchbooks, etc. However, for a chunk of kids, they outgrow it and stop doing it as they become more interested in sports, boyfriends and girlfriends, after school jobs, cars…. I kept doing it all the way into college where I was introduced to painting. That’s when I really fell in love with the medium and wanted to create a career with it, whether it would work out or not.

What are you currently working on?

I’m working on a new series titled ‘sun-kissed’ where I paint curtains to frame a landscape scene that’s disguised as a natural disaster. The curtain symbolizes the comfort of home and a safety barrier between ourselves and the warming world outside. This visual device invites the viewer to confront their own place in the climate emergency: comfortable, insulated, and perhaps complicit.

The curtain symbolizes the comfort of home and a safety barrier between ourselves and the warming world outside.

Shawn Huckins

What inspired you to get started on this body of work?

I live in NH and although we don’t have many wildfires here, we were bombarded with wildfire smoke from the Canadian wildfires last year. We awoke to some incredible sunrises during that time since the smoke enhances the colors and haze. I thought that might make an interesting series of enjoying the ‘beautiness’ of the horrors of a warming planet from the safety of our home. I should also preface, that my partner and I used to live in Colorado which constantly had wildfires that seemed to start earlier and last longer.

Do you work on distinct projects or do you take a broader approach to your practice?

I tend to take on one social aspect with each series. Previous series have dealt with the de-evolution of language, politics, societal norms and the male bravado, the complexities of individual identity in the modern age, and currently a planet in crisis.

What’s a typical day like in your studio?

I’m very routine oriented as it helps me stay focused. I do my best and most productive work in the early morning followed by the gym before lunch. The afternoon will doing more mundane, ‘easier’ parts of a painting, or administrative work such as cataloging, emails, etc.