hannah priebe
Posted on 13. Aug, 2010 by Nick in culture
words > SARAH NIEMAN
Celebrities are truly America’s gods and goddesses, our heroes of legend, and I’ve yet to see anyone capture the starlets, heartthrobs, and rock stars better than local artist Hannah Priebe. With a feisty, vibrant style, she’s sharing her playful take on the traditional Hollywood headshot with Wichita.
Hannah graduated from Friends this past May with a major in Studio Art. Even though her emphasis was in painting, she confessed that she kind of fell into the medium by happenstance; some might call it fate. Her original plans to major in Communications flew out the window after she took her first painting class sophomore year. “I really hated my drawing classes,” she said, “but all it took was ONE painting class and I figured out my style.”
“Andy Warhol is a big inspiration—obviously, but texture definitely inspires me too,” she said. She started out working with acrylic and watercolors, but has branched out to include layers of pastels, spray paint, and, despite her aversion to drawing, a little graphite and colored pencil.
“I like being able to come up with really random stuff, random textures, and I always have a lot of used paper towels lying around to try off my paintbrushes—you know, the brown ones that come out of the bathroom dispensers. So one time I just got really bored with the typical look and gathered up a whole bunch of the ones that were covered in paint water and just painted them onto the canvass; it really gave it a kind of cool, creepy texture.”
After all, Hannah’s not afraid to break the rules: “It’s like with Warhol. Other artists of his time were doing more realistic pieces, but he said screw it and did his own thing.” Sometimes in order to become a legend, you have to break away from the legends that have come before.
She comes by her creativity naturally: her father designs sets as a drama professor at Friends, her mother is a seamstress who designs costumes for those plays, and her sister is a good seamstress in her own right. In fact, Hannah and her sister work together. They combine Hannah’s colorful Hollywood icons with her sister’s sewing skills and turn out some pretty awesome bags. To check out their Facebook page, just search for Fontana & Fred.
“Wichita will always be home,” Hannah said, “but I’d love to experience the art scene of bigger cities.” She’s shown her work at two solo exhibits for Final Friday: Gingerroot Studios in 2008 and Friends University’s Riney Fine Arts Gallery. She also participated in a collaborative exhibit in 2009 at City Friends with her fellow seniors. While she hopes to take a nice long break after the whirlwind chaos that was her senior year, don’t expect this Kansas legend-in-the-making to disappear; she’s already experimenting with some
new ideas.
Check out more of Hannah’s work at deviantart.com/hrpriebe. And if you’re interested in acquiring a plucky Billy Holiday, a whimsical John Lennon, a mischievous Audrey Hepburn, or a swanky Elvis of your own – Hannah also takes commissions— hrpriebe@gmail.com.
