Hannah McBeth

Hannah McBeth is a local artist, writer, and marketing professional. She grew up in Salt Lake City and studied Art History and Classics at the University of Utah, focusing on art and museums in Europe. In 2014, she moved to the UK and received a Master’s in Cultural Anthropology with an emphasis in Museum Curation. After several years working as a writer and graphic designer, she moved to Paris to study drawing and develop her own artistic style. She lived and worked between Paris and Cambridge until 2019. Now she lives in the 9th and 9th neighborhood, where she creates art and is a contributor to publications in the UK and the US, including S.L.U.G.
Artist Statement
Although I grew up in Salt Lake, I spent the last two years working outside Paris and Cambridge, Britain. I processed change and charged political atmospheres (yellow vest and Brexit strikes) by drawing. I use a paired-down, meditative technique to document the character of surroundings, showing both harmonious and adversarial interactions between nature and the man-made. Everywhere, nature pushes through the cracks. The “turning of the wheel” and potential for growth/destruction is apparent in something as simple as a vine pushing through pavement. This eerie energy is in nooks where common people spend fleeting moments eating breakfast or drinking beer. My drawings are simple ink, allowing me to lose the planning impulse. Movements must be unthought, as ink shows hesitation. David Hockney, 19th-century drawings, and Asian paintings informed this practice. I also use automatic, intricate scribbling to create layers of shadow, affect, and time. This is influenced by French symbolist Gustave Moreau and bande dessinée (graphic novel) art.