Anita Hunt was born and raised in rural, southwestern Ohio. She studied art at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, before moving to Boston to attend the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA at Tufts University). Trained in traditional printmaking, she has practiced safer and non-toxic methods since the 1990s. Anita was among the first wave of artists to join Zea Mays Printmaking studio in 2001, where she taught workshops for 12 years. She is past president of the Monotype Guild of New England, an elected member of the Society of American Graphic Artists, the Boston Printmakers and the Los Angeles Printmaking Society. Her images feature in professional journals, textbooks and literary publications. Her work has shown at IPCNY, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, the Print Center, Philadelphia, BIEC de Trois-Rivieres, Canada, London Print Studio, Danforth Museum of Art, the Janet Turner Print Museum and in dozens of international printmaking biennials and group exhibitions. Anita has received numerous awards and honors throughout her career. Permanent collections include: the New York Public Library, Yale University Art Gallery, Portland Museum of Art, Smith College Museum of Art, Tama Art University Museum, Tokyo, Decordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Bradbury Art Museum, Syracuse University Art Galleries, the Blick Art Collection, Douro Museum, Portugal, Hood Art Museum, Tsinghua University, Beijing, the Boston Public Library and others. She lives and works in Massachusetts.
Artist’s statement: winter, 2022
I’ve lived most of my life in rural areas. For 33 years now I’ve been planted in the same patch of earth in a quiet corner of New England. This beautiful place has instilled in me a deep curiosity, caring, respect and concern for the environment I share with the myriad lifeforms who inhabit this land. I’m constantly amazed by the rich diversity of the ecosystem here, teeming and resilient and yet also clearly struggling under the weight of human domination and climate catastrophe. Watching the seasons cycling, never quite repeating, reminds me to pay close attention, to take nothing for granted and to acknowledge the magic as it happens.
Everything I make begins with a visual experience, rather than a concept or idea. My process is simple. I go for daily walks, look closely, take photographs then try to translate what I observe into art. I return to the same places throughout the seasons, year after year. I latch onto small details in the landscape—tree roots, mossy rocks, puddles, weird shadows, reflections, nests, burrows, sticks. These tiny elements are my landmarks. I visit often to watch them grow, change, decay and disappear over time. In the studio, I use my photos as references for drawings and prints, but I don’t use photographic processes in printmaking. All my images are hand drawn.
I think of my work as a lifetime of small offerings—the only way I know how to gather together some of the wonder, gratitude, grief and love I feel along with the beauty I see, and reflect it back to the world.
