Dawn Hunter | portrait of the visual artist in her fifties

In James Joyce's novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the narrative follows the journey of Stephen Dedalus, a budding artist grappling with his place in the world and cultivating his artistic identity. This modernist masterpiece is renowned for its inventive language and for depicting its main character's psychological and ethical growth.

From this literary work, mature creatives can glean that the metamorphosis into an artist encompasses a voyage of self-exploration and self-fashioning.

Attaining contentment and ease within oneself at any life stage is vital to one's overall wellness and can contribute to a more gratifying, purposeful existence.

Life is full of highs, lows, and transitional periods; however, it is crucial to remember that age remains a mere numeral and that it is never too late to chase your aspirations and objectives. Numerous people find a renewed sense of direction and focus as they age and view aging as an opportunity for reinvention and to make positive life changes. Often people will choose to prioritize their personal development and joy. 

Remember that there's no "right way" to be a fabulous 50-something (or any age, for that matter). It's so important to appreciate our own unique qualities, talents, and passions. If you're feeling excited about this chapter in life like I am, that's amazing! Let's keep celebrating our individuality and living life to the max! 

My Story

Age has never dictated the course of my life. I've always pursued a creative path; each day spent in my studio feels timeless. This creative space fosters a connection between various moments and locations throughout my life, all within the artistic process. Additionally, I teach first-year college students who are full of energy, creativity, and innovation. These young individuals inspire and graciously invited me into their lives through our shared artistic pursuits.

A hurdle that older female artists might encounter is ageism, which is discrimination based on age. This can manifest in various ways, such as being overlooked for opportunities or being treated differently due to one's age.

Another obstacle older female artists may face is inadequate representation and support for their work. It is not unusual for them to feel as if their artwork doesn't receive the same level of attention or acknowledgment compared to their younger peers.

Yet, despite these obstacles, numerous older female artists remain committed to producing and showcasing their art. They may discover support and fellowship within artistic circles and could even find that their age and life experiences provide them with a distinct viewpoint and expression in their craft. (Above, a portrait of Dawn Hunter. Photo captured by Darcy Phelps.)

My Inspiration

Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist who was born in 1929. She has achieved significant success and has gained a great deal of recognition as an older female artist. Her career has spanned over 70 years. During that time Kusama earned a reputation as one of the world's most significant and influential living contemporary artists. 

Kusama's artwork is characterized by its vivid colors, recurring patterns, and enveloping installations that frequently involve performance and interactive aspects. Her creative endeavors have spanned multiple mediums, such as painting, sculpture, installation art, and literature.

Above, self-portrait of Dawn Hunter at the Yayoi Kusama exhibition in Atlanta, Georgia. Left, the Peep Show light installation by Yayoi Kusama, photo by Dawn Hunter.

Throughout her illustrious career, Kusama has displayed her artwork in galleries and museums across the globe, captivating a vast and loyal fanbase. In the past few years, her prominence and accomplishments have soared even higher, as her masterpieces have taken center stage in prestigious exhibitions and fetched jaw-dropping sums at auctions. Now in her 90s, Kusama remains a creative force, continuing to produce and showcase her art, enthralling and enchanting people worldwide.

My favorite living artist is Kusama, and I make it a point to travel and attend her shows whenever I can, like to the Bronx Botanical Gardens or High Museum of Art. When her exhibition was on view at the High Museum in Atlanta, GA, I actually bought a scalped ticket to attend. The show had sold out, and people were wrapped around the block in tents in hopes of receiving one of the daily tickets held. 

*Ticket scalping has become a more common practice during the past twenty years because of the internet. Most scalping incidents now take place through online sales transactions. Currently, there are no federal laws that prohibit the scalping or resale of tickets.

Above, the obliteration room at the Yayoi Kusama Exhibition at the High Museum, photo by Dawn Hunter.

Closing

2022 has been an excellent year for me creatively, and I was productive - generating many new works of art throughout the year. I have been honored by the recognition and success of my illustrations, drawings, and paintings about the esteemed neuroscientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal and my daughter, Darcy. I have exhibited throughout the US this year, from Art Fields in Lake City, SC, Verum Ultimum, Portland, OR, and the Cabrillo Gallery, Los Angeles - to name a few 2022 exhibition highlights. 

I feel sincere gratitude for being the first artist to be elected to the Board of Directors of the prestigious Cajal Club and for the distinctions of having my artwork reproduced and written about in Scientific American® and the Consilience Journal.

I look forward to opportunities and the creative journey ahead of me in 2023, and as the sayings go, "age is just a number," and "being fifty is nifty."

Portrait of Dawn Hunter taken by her daughter Darcy as they prepared the Darcy Inventory for the 2022, 10th Anniversary Artfields exhibition, Lake City, SC.

Art of Neuroscience Award and Scientific American Feature

I am an artist who uses the biography of Santiago Ramón y Cajal and his neuroscience research as the inspiration for my artwork. Earlier this year, my artwork, Dueling Cajals, won an Honorable Mention in the international Art of Neuroscience competition out of the Netherlands. I am honored and speechless to have my artwork featured in Scientific American in an article about the competition. In the article, I share my artwork with the writers and editors (Fionna M. D. Samuels and Liz Tormes) and how the Cajal Legacy at the Instituto Cajal and neuroscience inspire my art about Cajal. 

 

Above my artwork, Dueling Cajals, receives Honorable Mention in the 2022 Art of Neuroscience 

International competition.

My artwork is based on my thorough study of Cajal's life and his scientific drawings, which I conduct in collaboration with leading experts in the neuroscience field at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, and Instituto Cajal, Madrid, Spain. I have created over 300 works about Cajal in my ongoing project. My creative project aims to help increase public awareness of the wonders and how the process of drawing can create unique insight and interpretations for scientific research. Overall, my series about Cajal is biographically informative about him and his drawing process.

Me with my primary source references for my work Dueling Cajals: Cajal's Nobel Prize, his original scientific drawing of regenerative nerve cells and his death mask. All of these items are housed at the Instituto Cajal, Madrid, Spain.

Historical Background about Cajal

Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934) was born in a small town in Spain. His father was a doctor, and Cajal grew up interested in science. He went to medical school, but he also studied biology and physics. He studied the brain using histological staining methods, microscopes, micrographs, and drawing. He discovered how different parts of the brain work. Cajal was also a great teacher and helped train many scientists who would go on to make significant contributions to neuroscience, like Fernando De Castro (arterial chemoreceptors), Rafael Lorente de Nó (audio-vestibular nuclei and system), and E. Horne Craigie (zoologist and author).

Along with Camillo Golgi, Cajal won the Nobel Prize for his work in 1906.

He did his seminal work in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He is known for problem-solving and innovation, like altering and improving the Golgi Black Reaction stain, which allowed him to visualize the nervous system in unprecedented detail. His discoveries continue to be the basis for our understanding of the brain.

One of Cajal's most important contributions was his development of the Neuron Doctrine. This theory states that the nervous system comprises individual cells called neurons. Santiago Ramón y Cajal's work on the neuron doctrine helped establish neuroscience as its scientific discipline.

Cajal, was an absolute genius, he has left a profound impact on neuroscience. He was the trailblazer for the neuron doctrine; his work was like this beacon, guiding our understanding of the brain's mysterious labyrinth. Cajal is just this pivotal force in neuroscience history. Even now, scientists and artists can't help but study and admire the incredible things he's discovered and are mesmerized by the beauty of his drawings.

It's wild to think about how much Cajal's work has shaped the field of neuroscience! His brilliant investigation into the nervous system's anatomy? A total game-changer. It's like he took a paintbrush and reimagined the canvas of our understanding. Because of him, neuroscience became its unique masterpiece, and he paved the way for many discoveries we're still making today. Even modern neuroscientists continue to reference his work, ensuring his legacy lives on for generations.

Cajal's discoveries about the brain's structure and function are like these vibrant colors, leaving a lasting impression on the field. And we're still diving into his work today, using it to make headway in figuring out neurological disorders. It's honestly so inspiring. Cajal's work is like this beautiful testament to the power of science, and it shows how vital curiosity and creativity are when we're chasing after our research.

Conclusion

I have enjoyed making artwork about Cajal's life and histology research. I am honored to have my work receive an Honorable Mention Award in the Art of Neuroscience competition and delighted that it was featured in Scientific American. To learn more about my project about him, visit my website devoted to my Cajal project, Dawn Hunter Art,™ | Cajal Portfolio.

My drawing, Four Cajals, marker and pen on paper, is based on a black and white self-portrait photo montage created and printed by Cajal. I added the color based on a color harmony system to my drawing.

Video

Below is a video that documents my process Creative Process Video for the Artwork Dueling Cajals:

Six Month Studio Round Up

I love spending my summers being creative, whether it's working on art projects in my studio or doing my daughter's hair in pretty braids and weaves. What I look forward to the most in my studio practice is the feeling of satisfaction when I'm done. One of my favorite places to go plein air painting is the botanical gardens at the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden. I forget about the sweltering summer heat when I'm painting or drawing the landscape.

Darcy and her back-to-school summertime braids weaved by yours truly, and my White Daisy mixed media drawing completed at the Riverbanks Zoo.

Spring Exhibitions

University of South Carolina's academic year ended with a "high" for me this past spring. My artwork was featured in three exhibitions: one in California at the Cabrillo Gallery, Cabrillo College, of the greater Los Angeles area. It was a group exhibition, and the show was titled Who We are Portraying. The exhibit explored identity and how individuals represent or express themselves publicly.  

The other two exhibitions I participated in were in South Carolina. Both were 10th-anniversary shows. The first one was a salon exhibition celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the publication, The Jasper Project. The show and celebration were both held at 701 Whaley's Pool Hall space. Laura Garner Hine curated the exhibition. Other artists selected to participate in the show included Bohumila Augustinova, Eileen Blythe, Mike Dwyer, Michael Krajewski, Cait Maloney, and Lucas Sams, to name a few. 

 

The second exhibition 10th-anniversary exhibition I participated in this past spring was the ArtFields 10th-Anniversary competition exhibition. Located in Lake City, South Carolina, ArtFields is a nine-day festival that features up to 400 works of art at 40 venues in which on can view the artists selected to compete from the southeast region of the United States. Participating artists are juried each year by a prestigious panel of jurors. The 2022 ArtFields juror panel included:  Venessa Castagnoli, Executive Director of Ogden Contemporary Arts; Charles Eady, Contemporary Artist and Author; Jean McLaughlin, Arts Administrator, Educator, and Artist; David Reyes, Curator of Exhibitions and Collections, Huntsville Museum of Art; and Jaime Suárez, Sculptor, Architect, Educator, and Ceramicist.

Top, detail of one of The Darcy Inventory drawings, mixed media on paper, 11" x 14."  The Darcy Inventory, center, installed at The R.O.B. at this year's 10th anniversary ArtFields competition, Lake City, SC. 

Summer Fun

Darcy won a weeklong spot in the Walk on the Wild Side World Explorers camp in Greenville this summer. Campers dissected owl pellets, learned about various estuary habitats, and met a tarantula, chinchilla, and python at the Greenville Zoo. When Darcy was not in camp, we spent our time either swimming in the hotel pool or exploring the downtown area of Greenville, South Carolina. 

Check out our South Carolina Sunshine Instagram reel of the week here!

Darcy, outside of World Explorers camp, Greenville, SC.

Art of Neuroscience, Netherlands Institute of Neuroscience

I received an Honorable Mention for my artwork Dueling Cajals in the prestigious international sci-art competition, Art of Neuroscience. This year's competition jurors were Dr. Bevil Conway, Dr. Flora Lysen, and Dr. Sabine Niederer.

 

Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience Statement: 

"This submission struck the jury because of its emphasis on the history of neuroscience. The work highlights how any scientific process, particularly scientific image-making, can be influenced by a multilayering of cultural and historical factors. The jury admired how diverse periods in time from this historical perspective were weaved into one image, and appreciated the effort that went into investigating the sources that Cajal was exposed to. Dueling Cajals serves as an important reminder for neuroscientists to recognize history and its influence on their work. " - AoN, NIN, NL

My drawing was created by referencing primary sources from Cajal's life and scientific research while serving as the Fulbright España Senior Research fellow at the Instituto Cajal. Below this paragraph is an Instagram reel. In the reel, I am giving the viewer a glimpse into the creative process and some of the items (Cajal's scientific regeneration drawing and the original mold of his death mask) that I researched in creating my drawing.

Dawn Hunter, Dueling Cajals, Art of Neuroscience Instagram reel.

My artwork above, Dueling Cajals, mixed media on paper, 11" x 14."

The primary sources that I reference from the Instituto Cajal, Madrid, that inspire the Dueling Cajals drawing, left an original nerve regeneration scientific drawing completed by Cajal and the original death mask mold.

Cajal Club

It is with immense gratitude and a touch of modest pride that I share the news of my election to the esteemed Cajal Club Board of Directors. The trust they have placed in me to design and create a new website for their illustrious organization is both exhilarating and deeply humbling.

My life was full of hard work, collaboration, and feedback from and with top Neuroscientists during the transition from July to August. The new website is now operational. This is an ongoing endeavor; a garden that will continue to flourish and grow. More content is yet to come, so stay tuned!

The new website, designed by yours truly, can be found here: cajalclub.org.

Closing

We have had some wonderful adventures so far this year and we are looking forward to more! We feel honored and blessed by all of our opportunities.

Have a wonderful fall everyone and check back with us again soon! XOXO

Always,

Dawn

Portrait of artist Dawn Hunter, taken by her daughter Darcy, July, 2022.

Happy 170th Birthday Cajal!

Happy Birthday Cajal, you are my world, and your discoveries laid the foundation for many other research quests of the mind. 

Cajal within the pyramidal neuron cells, marker and pen on paper. This is a page from my sketchbook.

Since your contributions to the neuron doctrine the have been too many neuro/mind research questions and discoveries to list. But here are a few.

"Split-brain" surgery to control epileptic seizures was performed by Willian Van Wagenen in 1940, and during 1946 Robert Heath carried out deep brain stimulations. 

My recreation of Cajal's black and white self portrait photograph, marker and pen on paper. I observed the primary source while completing my Fulbright Fellowship at the Instituto Cajal, Madrid, Spain and I drew this work from direct observation. 

Eugene Aserinsky discovered "rapid eye movement" (REM) in 1953 and that those movements correspond to certain dream states. 

My recreation of Cajal's drawing of a retina, marker and pen on paper. I observed the primary source while it was on display at the John Porter Neuroscience Research Center at the NIH and drew this work from direct observation.

Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga discovered that the two hemispheres of the human brain are unique and functionally different.

A sketchbook drawing of "...Buds budding, roots rooting and taking root -- Ha, some studio humor within my new series." Cajal branching out, acrylic and ink on paper. This is a conceptual work in which I referenced self portraits created by Cajal and my own research drawings of this work.

Based on blood flow, Seiji Ogawa measured functional MRI brain activity. The plasticity of the adult human brain was proven by Vilayanur Ramachandran in 1994, and Jin Hyung Lee discovered that high and low frequency stimulations generate unique and varied states of consciousness in the brains of rats.

My world of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, this is a photo of a wall in my studio covered in my drawings of and about Cajal.

Dawn Hunter Art® - Say my name, but don't credit other people with the art that I have made!

What is in a name? A lot.  

We live in a time of digital technology, and with the increasing use of artificial intelligence or bots by websites, confusion can be created, erroneous attributions can occur, and significant mistakes made.

My name is Dawn Hunter, and I have been a professional artist for over two decades and I have operated my website, www.dawnhunterart.com™, since the early aughts. This past year I have become aware of a website called “Wall of Celebrities” because they have posted eighteen of my original artworks and associated those artworks with an actress by the same name. In fact, there are more images of my artwork or me with my artwork than there are of the actress or her performances. This misattribution is significant, it compromises the authority of my work while simultaneously creating market and brand identity confusion for prospective exhibitors and collectors of my art. 

Like anyone finding themselves in this predicament, I have notified the company of the erroneous attributions of artwork created by me but credited to another person. They promised to remove my artwork, and they have not. That was eight months ago, so I find the lack of action appalling. Additionally, they are offering free downloads of my artwork, Gasp! - without asking or receiving my permission.

My advice to my students and any young artist starting a professional practice is to copyright your artwork. If you find yourself in the same predicament, you will be able to pursue appropriate legal action. Which, of course, will be my next step.

In the meantime, to help eliminate confusion as to who created what, I am featuring my artworks (below) that are currently erroneously attributed to and associated with another person on the "Wall of Celebrities." I am also including a summary of their creation, links that verify the timeline history of the works and the professional exhibition history of those works. I have been very diligent over the years and recorded my creative and exhibition output on this blog and other social media outlets like Facebook and Flickr.  All of this information can be seen publicly and the history of the creation and exhibition of my artwork can be traced.  I have numbered (1-18) each image featured without my permission.

8/10/2022 Update:

Wall of Celebrities continues a copyright infringement of my artwork. They have taken down the artworks numbered 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 18 featured in this post. However they continue to display my artwork without my consent on the following links below.

Artworks numbered  4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15 and 17 are featured on this link:

https://www.wallofcelebrities.com/celebrities/dawn-hunter/landscape-photos-1.html

Artworks numbered 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14 and 16 are featured on this link:

https://www.wallofcelebrities.com/celebrities/dawn-hunter/landscape-photos-2.html

1) Dawn Hunter, Portrait of Cajal from observation of Jorge Zockoll's oversized photograph at the Instituto Cajal, Madrid, marker and pen on paper, 

11" x 14," 2017.

The work (#1 above) was also featured in an article about me by Aggie Mika in "The Scientist" magazine.

2) Dawn Hunter, Diana the Huntress, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14," 2017.

3) Dawn Hunter, study of Cajal's Diencephalic Nuclei, marker and pen on paper, 

11" x 14," 2017.

4) Dawn Hunter, drawing of NIH researcher Kenton Swartz's talk,  marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14," 2017.

5) Artist Dawn Hunter with installation of the Cajal Inventory. 

Here I am with my work while it was on display at the Instituto Cajal, 2017. For more information on the Cajal Inventory work, click here: 

 Cumulative Effect:  Cajal Inventory drawings.

  

All of these images were originally featured on this blog after my participation in a collaborative symposium facilitated by the National Institutes of Health and the Instituto of Cajal, Madrid, Spain.  Original post can be accessed here:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/600178827940883609/1115373249925306054

The works have gone on to be featured in national and international exhibitions, most recently at the college of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas, 2021. Images from exhibition featured below.

6) Dawn Hunter, Man as Sunflower, acrylic and graphite on paper, 14" x 17," 2014.

This work is currently on exhibition at the John Porter Neuroscience Research Center of the National Institutes of Health, alongside seven original scientific drawings created by Cajal. You can learn more about the show by clicking on the photos below.

Artist, Dawn Hunter and her daughter with the NIH exhibition, 2019.  

Here I am with my daughter when we visited the show. The artwork Man as Sunflower is the closest work to the Cajal exhibition case.  Man as Sunflower was also featured in a Jasper magazine article, see below.

Jasper Magazine Article featuring my artwork inspired by the life of 

Santiago Ramón y Cajal.

Below is the link to the online copy of the Jasper Magazine article "The Artist and the Scientist," pp. 50-52, 2015.  Use you right arrow on your keyboard to view the pages in the online publication.  

http://issuu.com/jaspermagazine/docs/110163_cropped_lower?e=3523036/11854158

7) Above is the detail from my painting Art Department.  This is my most famous work from my Spectacle Spectacular series.  It has toured in exhibitions internationally in the U.K. and Germany, and was a center piece work of the Kansas City Art Institute, Foundation 50th exhibition at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, 2015.  The painting was also prominently featured in my solo exhibition at the Delaware Contemporary Art Center and appeared on the cover of the 86th issue of the College of Charleston's literary journal, Crazyhorse.  The painting made its debut in the critically acclaimed, Day Job, 2010, exhibition, held at the Drawing Center, New York, NY.  The artwork was also reviewed and featured in Artnet.

8) The creation of this painting, Blue Cerberus, has been well documented on this blog.  I recorded the entire process through many posts. This work was featured in my solo exhibition at the Delaware Contemporary Art Center, 2014.  

Learn about the show, click here.

Learn about the creation of the painting, click here.

9) Dawn Hunter, detail of Blue Cerberus.

Below are two more works from my exhibition at the Delaware Contemporary Art Center:

10) Dawn Hunter, A Dream in August, graphite and ink on paper, 2014.

Exhibition image from the Delaware Contemporary Art Center.

11) Dawn Hunter, Dusk and Dawn with Horses, graphite and ink on paper, 18" x 24," 2014.

During my first sabbatical after I was awarded tenure at the University of South Carolina, I created a series titled:  Personified Doubles and Complementary Opposites.  The entire process of the series was well documented diaristtcally through a series of Facebook and Flickr posts.

To view the process on Facebook, click here.

To view the process on Flickr, click here.

To view the entire series on my personal website, click here.

12) Dawn Hunter, Vegas Garden, graphite, ink and acrylic on paper, 36" x 58,"2012.

13) Dawn Hunter, Secluded Play, graphite and ink on paper, 26" x 40," 2012.

Secluded Play continues fo garner critical attention, and the drawing was selected to be included in the juried exhibition, Simulacra, at the Sulfur Studios, Savannah, Georgia in 2021.

Read the entire article here: 

https://www.savannahnow.com/story/lifestyle/2021/08/29/where-to-see-art-galleries-savannah-georgia-to-do-galleries-museums/5591926001/

14) Dawn Hunter, Magician's Garden, graphite and ink on paper, 30" x 40," 2012.

Both of the works #14 and #15 below were featured and the annual What's Love Fest.

Photos from the exhibition and link to the Facebook album about the event are below the images of the works.

15) Dawn Hunter, The Magician, graphite and ink on paper, 26" x 40," 2010.

16) Dawn Hunter, Birthday Cake, graphite and ink on paper, 26" x 40," 2010.

The Magician and Birthday Cake on exhibit at the What's Love Fest, 2010.

Artist, Dawn Hunter is featured in the center of this group photo.  

Here I am with two UofSC Magellan Scholars that I mentored.

Dawn Hunter's artwork on exhibit at the What's Love Fest, The Magician and Birthday Cake were among five works that she exhibited.  To learn more about the exhibition, click here.

Below is a work from my Spectacle Spectacular series, and it is from the portfolio series titled Spectacle Spectacular, Etcetera.  This work was prominently featured in a SECAC members exhibition.  To learn more about this work and the SECAC exhibition, click here.

17) Dawn Hunter, Bling Bling, Boobatopia, graphite and ink on paper, 72" x 80," 2007.

18) Dawn Hunter, Gold Rush, acrylic and gold leaf on canvas, 18" x 24," 2008.

The painting Gold Rush is from my Spectacle Spectacular series and is part of the Sitting Pretty installation which was exhibited at Rogue Community College, the UofSC Arts Institute, Mesquite Art Center and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

I have also exhibited works from that series separately on under the individual titles of the work, like featured below.  In that photo I am giving an artist's talk about the works at the Upstairs Artspace in Tryon, North Carolina.

Artist Dawn Hunter discusses her work with artist and, Line and Lies of the Face, exhibition curator, Margaret Curtis.

I had so much fun talking about my work at this show!

Exhibition announcement for the Lines and Lies of the Face.

Dawn Hunter, the evolving Sitting Pretty installation, viewers examining the work at an exhibition, eighteen works completed by 2008.

Dawn Hunter, detail of Sitting Pretty.