title: The Head and the Heart
artist: Alexandra Haas
materials: oil on glass
dimensions: 18 x 24 inches
location: Roscoe, Illinois, USA
The Head and the Heart is an experimental artwork by Alexandra Haas meant to focus light through the art itself. This piece of glass is taken from a picture frame and was used due to lack of painting surfaces while in quarantine. The goal was to help bring natural light inside in a new way. In this time of social isolation, sunlight and the outdoors have been a saving grace for the mind and the soul, helping us to feel a little less cramped and stir-crazy.
Before shelter-in-place, I had fallen out of my painting practices, but I have since picked up the brush and fallen back in love with creating abstract and experimental pieces. There are imperfections within this piece and some lines don’t quite meet each other, but why change them? I feel they reflect what many of us are going through right now: uncertainty and stalled plans.
"The Head and the Heart depicts the feelings of uncertainty that we are now faced with. We don’t necessarily know how life is going to change after this, but we can have optimism and maybe see the world in a different light."
Alexandra Haas is a writer, artist, and creator currently living in Roscoe, Illinois. She finished her BA degree from Columbia College Chicago in 2018, where she studied management of the arts and creative nonfiction writing. In September 2018, she self-published her poetry book, Efflorescence, and has since been published in literary journals such as Levee and Punctuate. She is a self-taught visual artist. Follow her on Instagram @thealexandrahaas
More on Alexandra Haas' practice
I am mainly a self-taught artist so most of my process is trial and error. I like finding beauty in the imperfections of everyday artistry and experimenting with different outlets. Most of my work is created in a small 5.5 ft x 6 ft makeshift home studio. I love working in the abstract, preferring to let viewers interpret the paintings for themselves. Visit alexandrahaas.co for more artwork and writing.