Maria Haag

Hometown: Dickinson, N.D.
My practice is focused on the idea of life as a journey through a physical and spiritual maelstrom. The fragility of things and persons is what inspires my drawings – sweeping lines and crusted layers of paper, charcoal, paint and collage. I draw on my memories of growing up in the American Midwest, watching the smoke curl up from burning fields, the green and brown swirling skies giving birth to tornadoes, and the ever-present wind carving away at the land and its inhabitants.
Website: MariaHaagArt.com

"What lies between sea and sky," 2020
Collage, shower curtain, mixed media on paper
55 x 48 in.

This artwork is vertical, rectangular abstract painting on paper. The top two-thirds of the piece is smooth white paper, and the lower portion contains a collage of torn pieces of paper with brushstrokes of black, blue, and red paint. These create a 3D aspect of the work.

"What lies between sea and sky (detail)," 2020
Collage, shower curtain, mixed media on paper
55 x 48 in.

Detail shot of a larger abstract artwork, taken from the side, shows the 3D texture of multi-directional pieces of torn paper collaged together. The paper pieces are individually painted with dark blues, whites, and a bit of crimson red.  

"The north wind's song," 2020
Collage, mixed media on paper
48 x 55 in.

Square abstract artwork on paper with expressive brush strokes in the middle and upper right areas. Layers of black, gray, white, blue, and red paint swish in multiple directions across the page.