Creating joyful arteven out of turmoil

HANNAH Cawthorne creates exuberant abstract and semiabstract paintings in acrylic from her garden studio in Lincoln’s West End.

Her family moved to Lincoln seven years ago and since then she has had two solo exhibitions at Gallery St Martins, Hannah also had a solo show at the former Sam Scorer Gallery and has been involved in several group shows around the county.

“My love for art started at a young age. At junior school some friends and I had the freedom to form our own unsupervised art club where we made underwater scenes and Jackson Pollock-y abstracts – that definitely ignited something in me.

“I also felt like a weirdo from being quite young. Lots of art seemed to reflect that and I felt drawn to that form of self expression. I studied Art and English at University. The stream of consciousness style of modernist writing has been a big inspiration and my painting process is guided by spontaneity and intuition.”

Hannah is inspired by all aspects of life: “Especially the bits that only happen inside our heads. My most recent series of paintings reflect how trauma affects us, and how life looks inside our minds in general.

“I try to process troubling things in my work, like my fears about climate change, but always with the aim to make something joyful.”

Since the pandemic Hannah has become interested in forming links with other artists and is a co-founder of Creative Lincs.

“I believe everyone is an artist and I also know that doing something creative regularly is a huge boost for mental wellbeing, so I am also passionate about facilitating others on their journey in creativity.”

Hannah Cawthorne, Gallery St Martin’s 37B Hungate, Lincoln LN1 1ET, April 17-23. To see more of Hannah’s work visit https://hannahcawthorneart.com