Maura Hawkes (b.1998 Chesham)
Based in Newcastle Upon Tyne in Northern England.
My art practice explores natural and found materials as a way of interpreting personal relationships with the earth.
I make work in response to specific landscapes, considering how a place has intrinsic symbols and rhythms that give it a distinct visual language. I let this exploration of environments, their languages and the materials found within them inform the creative output of my practice.
I assemble many different elements from a single landscape, trying to form a deep understanding of it. Alongside material exploration I imagine how the earth, plants and animals experience the place. What do they dream about?
I am currently exhibiting a series of woodblock prints and collages in the exhibition ‘On Dreaming’ at Northern Print in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. The work reflects on time spent in the Rainforest in Central America, and uses plant based Indigo, Weld and Achiote pigments. I am also making work in response to my residency at VARC (Visual Arts in Rural Communities) in Tarset, Northumberland, which is going to be exhibited in September this year.
CV
Exhibitions
On Dreaming, Northern Print, Newcastle, May- July 2025
Bridging the Gap, Northern Print, Newcastle, October 2024
Confluences, Newcastle Arts Centre, March - April 2024
Founding, Shieldfield Art Works, Newcastle, February - March 2024
Ritual, Willesden Gallery, London, August 2023
Degree Show, Copeland Gallery, London, July 2022
Now That’s What I Call Art, Newcastle Contemporary Art, December 2021 - January 2022
Vault, System Gallery, North Shields, September 2021
Refracted Commentary, The Shipley Gallery, Gateshead, January 2021
Telephone, The Social, London, July- August 2019
Playground, The NewBridge Project, Newcastle, May 2019
Residencies and Bursaries
Full Circle Residency, VARC, Highgreen, Northumberland, November 2024
Mauser Foundation Residency, Costa Rica, April 2024
Northern Print, Bridging the Gap Bursary, Newcastle, 2024
ACA Residency, Allenheads, Northumberland, 16th-18th March 2022
VARC Residency, Highgreen, Northumberland, 4th-8th November 2019
Education
The Collective Studio, Newbridge, 2022-2023
BA (Hons) Fine Art, 1st Class, Newcastle University, 2018-2022
Diploma in Foundation Studies in Design and Media (Distinction), Bucks New University, High Wycombe, 2017-2018
