Artist's statement

Original Artwork by Hana Evans

Artist's statement

"As spiritual beings we have a duty to search for our sacred dream and to fulfil it."

Chris Lüttichau, danish shaman

Hana Evans

I was born and grew up in the Czech Republic where I studied fashion design at the College of Textile Industries. Since 1993 I have lived in and been inspired by the magical landscapes of West Penwith in Cornwall, UK. Apart from pursuing textile art and painting I also study holistic massage, tantra, shamanism and train as a priestess of the Goddess - all of which continues to supply me with an endless stream of inspiration to explore in my artwork. In the meantime, my wonderful 9-year-old son makes sure my feet are kept firmly on the ground!

My interest in women's issues, Earth-centered spirituality, wisdom and beauty of the human body present themselves in creation of a particular type of soft sculpture, the main focus of my present work. A friend coined a very appropriate name -

HuggaMamas

"...the velvet goddesses that women love to cuddle!"

The design of these soft huggable dolls is based on a 26.000 years old central European "fertility" statuette, Venus of Dolni Vestonice. With their growing popularity I later developed other designs to reflect my passion for textile storytelling of women's bodies, souls and mysteries and affirming them positively. Though I favour one particular pattern for the basic body, each doll is unique. I use sensual materials of different colours and textures and creative embroidery for decoration. I use the technique of shamanic journeying to draw out images from my subconscious and deeper sources to manifest in the dolls.

In painting my interest is in themes around erotica, womanhood, spirituality and shamanic visions. I like to work in large scale acrylics.

"Creative people: 1, have their energy field accessible; 2, have the ability to tap and release unconscious and preconscious thought; 3, are able to withstand being thought of as abnormal or eccentric; 4, are more sensitive; 5, have a richer fantasy life and greater involvement in daydreaming; 6, are enthusiastic and impulsive; 7, show signs of synaesthesia (e.g., tasting color, seeing sound, hearing smells, etc.); 8, show different brain wave patterns than the less creative, especially during creative activity; 9, when confronted with novelty of design, music, or ideas, they get excitied and involved (less creative people get suspicious and hostile); 10, when given a new solution to a problem, they get enthused, suggest other ideas, overlook details and problems (less creative students analyze the defects rather than explore potentials." E. Paul Torrence and Laura K. Hall, Journal of Creative Behavior, 1980

....could this be my ADD??