Welcome to no. 41 in our series Poignant Pics where our editor, Diana Nicholette Jeon, writes about Annie Seaton’s image, “Miss You Now, Maine”

Connecting Eye, Hand, and Heart…

In an era of instant imaging, these makers prefer the opposite practice of slow-time picture-making, extending the interaction time between the subject and the maker to visualize previously unphotographable impressions of human consciousness. Such physical ties connect the hand and the brain, our senses and logical facilities, at that crossroads where nature, knowledge, and knower intersect. This demonstrates that our world is not a fixed one, but rather an active and ever-changing entity that requires us to continuously learn and relearn to remain visually literate.

–Robert Hirsch, Transformational Imagemaking - Handmade Photography since 1960

I'm captivated by how Annie Seaton translates her photographs to media other than a print on paper. While most of us would agree that presentation matters as much as the images themselves, if you have read other features I have written, you know that I am of the mind that media has mana*, as well. Speaking as someone who has been working in various forms of mixed media for most of my art career, I'm always looking for inspiration from work that goes beyond the print itself, work that uses the media to continue the story told via the photographic image alone. And I'm always thrilled when I find an artist following their own vision to arrive at new ways for us to experience their photography. 

Most known for her imagery depicting surfers, Seaton's work usually contains landscape, water, or both. She describes herself as a painter who uses photography. Breaking past the limitations of conventional photography is something Seaton actively pursues. She intentionally exploits traditional boundaries by cutting photos and adding them to her paintings, often translating them to fabrics beyond the painted surface. In addition to paint and ink washes, she sometimes uses shibori dyeing, as she has with this quilt, Miss You Now, Maine. The combination of her painting technique, ink washes, fabric dyeing, inkjet printing, and her unique style of photography gives the final fabric work the look of printed older-film photography made with a "toy" camera mixed with something more personal. And then she takes it one step further to create this hand-sewn quilt collage of joyous memories. She shows us what was, but more so what she felt. She shows us her world filtered through her hands and her heart. As with all her work, it stands out as being an "Annie Seaton." 

Asked about her work, Seaton stated, "My art exudes emotions of joy and bliss -- both mine and my subjects, captured through photography and transcribed via paint. Happiness is really a third subject but is felt and not seen through color and movement of the paint…Through my art, I try to convey deep, meaningful moments of joy vis a vis painting expressively in my own dreamy creamy language of color." 

For me, Miss You Now, Maine evokes childhood memories of summer in New England. The days when summer stretched ahead, full of possibility. When returning to school in the fall was not yet on my radar. The simpler pleasures of an entire day spent playing outdoors with friends, swimming in lakes or the ocean, picking berries, and baking muffins later the same day using them. I'm sure you have a version of a similar memory yourself. 

Seaton says she aspires to show joy, but I think she did one better. She evoked joy from within me, unearthing memories that rarely bubble to the surface. She brought out my inner child and had me reliving those long summer days full of endless potential.

Currently, the artist intervening in the photograph is a hot trend. But Seaton is not following that trend; she was busy creating it years before it gained widespread acceptance or became the next new thing. Bravo, Annie! I'll be watching to see how she continues to evolve her work, one step ahead of the crowd. 

*mana-a Hawaiian word that most closely approximates to the English word “power” but without some of the negative connotations that are sometimes applied to it.

Artist Bio

Annie Seaton was born in Toronto, Canada and lives in Sherman Oaks, CA. She lives with her husband, dog, 2 cats and 3 koi fish and has two grown children. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally and in such notable collections of Carol Vernon and Bob Turbin, Marriott, Sun Coast, Hyatt and Hilton Hotels among many others. Annie Seaton consults as Gallery Director for Kopeikin Gallery, is an Art Advisor and on the Advisory Board of the stARTup Art Fair as well as a passionate fine art photo collector and member of Photo Art Collectors LA (PACLA).

See more of Seaton’s work here.

Author Bio

Diana Nicholette Jeon is an award-winning artist based in Honolulu, HI, who works primarily with lens-based media. Her work has been seen both internationally and nationally in solo and group exhibitions. Jeon holds an MFA from UMBC.