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Marie Spaeder Haas
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Marie Spaeder Haas
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Marie Spaeder Haas
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Marie Spaeder Haas
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Marie Spaeder Haas
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Marie Spaeder Haas
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Marie Spaeder Haas knows well the powerful pull of place. Having spent most of her life north of the Mason-Dixon line, when the artist and her husband first moved to Shooting Creek, N.C., she felt a strong sense of homecoming.
“I don’t know whether we chose the mountains or the mountains chose us. It’s like we came home. We’d come over one ridge and you’d see layer after layer after layer of mountains, and my heart would actually jump. I had a physical reaction to it.”
Now a resident of Ocoee, Tenn., a valley community about 70 miles west of Shooting Creek, Haas is still surrounded by mountains. The simple beauty of the community she calls home and its traditional music of bluegrass are main inspirations for her distinctive drawings.
Haas primarily works in pen and ink and watercolor. Old homesteads and mountain musicians are prominent subjects for her pieces. Old houses are compelling because of their palpable sense of personal history.
“When I see an old abandoned house or old homes or farm, what resonates in me is the history of who was there and… the story that those buildings told, the individual lives that were touched in those spaces.”
The rural abodes that appear in Haas’ pieces are local places. In fact, “The Farm” depicts the old farmhouse located right across the road from her home. Although sometimes she must work from photographs, Haas much prefers drawing on location.
“I always feel that my best work comes when I respond directly to the subject matter, whether it’s a mountain scene or a building or a person. The more I’m in contact with the subject… the more authentic my work will be. When I’m right there you get the smells and the feels and the bugs are biting and you get everything. You feel it all with all of your senses.”
Such immediacy is also apparent in Haas’ pen-and-ink gesture drawings of mountain musicians. An ardent fan of bluegrass music, Haas brings a five-by-seven sketchpad to concerts and draws while listening to the music.
Aiming to get “across the message with as simple a line as possible,” as she puts it, she works quickly. Completing one sketch in about a minute, Haas may produce 20 or more drawings during the course of a concert.
After choosing the best of these preliminary sketches, Haas often reworks them to create the finished piece. Her honing process can be as streamlined as simply adding a watercolor wash or may involve reworking the drawing by either adding a few strokes or paring down lines.
The end results are pieces such as “High Lonesome Sound” and “Fiddlin’ Around,” simple in form yet alive with a tangible realness mirroring the authenticity of bluegrass itself.
Marie Spaeder Haas’ art has been exhibited in solo, juried and invitational shows throughout the country. Her art is currently available at Tellico Art Center in Tellico Plains, Tenn., Kada Gallery in Erie, Pa., and directly from the artist herself.
“There are no theatrics with bluegrass,” says Haas. “It’s just a bunch of guys or gals sitting around. What you see is what you get and they sing about life, and simple things, and sometimes awful things, but it’s real.”
Much the same could be said about the art of Marie Spaeder Haas. With simple lines and soft color washes, this artist uses pen, paper, and paint to sketch creative homage to the mountain culture that holds such special meaning for her.
She can be found on the web at www.SpaederHaasGallery.com.