Now In: ARTIST LIST → Hoch, Maria

For me, being an artist means making art, and making art means having the discipline to work. For as far back as I can remember, I've always felt this way. Making art is my job—and motivator.

 

I have lived and worked in Pensacola, Florida, for many years, but I studied art in several universities in the 1970s, most notably at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. There I met the artist Jack Dempsey, my mentor. I credit my art career, whatever it is and will be, on this fortuitous encounter at such a pivotal point in my life. Under Jack's influence, I realized art wasn't technique, style, or material use, and I began to focus on the fluidity and ethereal nature of the process of “doing” art, and on understanding this elusive, but vital, tenet. I came to see that the process of seeing and assessing and ultimately recording a mark is an internal activity that requires the involvement of your whole being, not just your eye-hand coordination. The artwork that remains at the end of a day's effort isn't the only reason I make art.