Artwork copyright Judith Hahn. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Wenatchee River, Logs and Rocks, 1994

Judith Hahn
American (born 1941, died 1999)

Location: Stratton Elementary, Newport

About the Artwork

Wenatchee River, Logs and Rocks is part of artist Judith Hahn's body of Northwest landscape paintings that capture light and shadow using negative space and impressionistic colors. Hahn chose to use few colors, and she showed off the yellow bushes by making yellow the boldest color in the painting. She also used white to depict the harsh sunlight on the river rocks. She noted that she "wanted the viewer to 'feel' that strong afternoon sunlight on the rocks and water."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Newport School District.

About the Artist

Painter and printmaker Judith Hahn (1941-1999) was interested in color and light, as seen in nature.
Hahn lived and worked in Woodinville, Western Washington. Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1981 at age forty, her artistic process and style evolved to accommodate her physical limitations. Using a wheelchair limited her range of motion and the size of the artworks that she could create. As a result, she started created diptychs, or two-panel artworks, where she could combine two panels to make one larger artwork. She noted, "Because my disability severely limits my mobility, I work (in studio) from photographs we take in the field, although I often use only part of a photographic image, or combine several."
Hahn earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Illinois and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Michigan State University. During the 1990s, several of her artworks were donated to support the Multiple Sclerosis Society.