Enrolled Citizen of the Elnu Abenaki Tribe
Juried Artist since 2019
Artist Biography
Hawk Schulmeisters is an enrolled citizen of the Elnu Abenaki Tribe and the youngest juried artist in the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association. He is a second-generation painter with a contemporary twist. He is apprenticing his grandfather John Sheehan, an Elnu Abenaki Tribe Elder with decades of experience as a professional oil painter. Although Hawk is young, he already shows extreme promise as an artist. Most of his education is experiential, but he looks forward to taking professional art classes in the future as the opportunities present themselves in order to grow further as an artist.
His art mirrors the idea of walking in two worlds; the busy, digital world in which he produces his art but in the natural world as well, where he takes most of his inspiration. With technology in his grasp, Hawk is able to capture, create and share so much more of the colorful world he sees. Additionally, he is apprenticing with his grandfather and mother to learn an ancient Abenaki textile weaving technique that uses plant fiber.
His art mirrors the idea of walking in two worlds: the busy, digital world in which he produces his art, but in the natural world as well, where he takes most of his inspiration. With technology in his grasp, Hawk is able to capture, create and share so much more of the colorful world he sees. Additionally, he is apprenticing with his grandfather and mother to learn an ancient Abenaki textile weaving technique that uses plant fiber.
Artist Statement
I am a digital artist and photographer who started learning oil painting from my grandfather. I wasn’t really any good at it, but my grandfather and mother encouraged me to keep painting. I also had an interest in learning photography, so when I was given a camera for my fifteenth birthday I got into photography. That’s when I began experimenting with digital art by using computer software and my photographs as a reference for my drawings. With computer software, I recreate the photos I’ve taken with intricate details and paint more extravagant landscapes than I previously thought possible. I have so much more control over my art. I have access to any color of the rainbow, any tool, just at the click of a mouse button.
My digital paintings implement many of the lessons my grandfather taught me when I was apprenticing under him as an oil painter. The specific style I use is inspired by my elementary and middle school art teacher, who painted in an abstract fashion on canvas. Most of my favorite things to paint have come from nature and parks. In the park there are always vast landscapes and never-ending variety confined within a few dozen city blocks.
Contact
Email: abenaki@administrator
Affiliations
National Honor Society
Vermont Abenaki Artists Association