“As we live an increasingly digital, indoor existence, I believe that reconnecting with the natural world outside—as well as bringing natural imagery inside—can help us restore balance to both our living spaces and our nervous systems. ”
STATEMENT
I’ve been deeply drawn to animals ever since I was a kid.
Childhood sketchbooks were packed with doodles of local wildlife. And many afternoons were spent attempting to befriend the same creatures.
I initially attributed my 25 year infatuation with animal imagery in my work solely to my love for animals.
But as my artistic practice developed, I’ve become aware of a deeper connection between nature, healing, and even my own sense of self.
Encounters with animals—whether meeting a curious horse at a fence line, or locking eyes with a coyote before she disappears in the brush—have always grounded me in the moment. They grant me access to an internal stillness that I struggle to find even with meditation. And they do this effortlessly.
I believe this is the superpower of nature and animals: they help us live more squarely in the moments of our own lives, rather than backwards and forwards in time in our minds where worry and anxiety generally find us.
Capturing the healing power of these transformative encounters with animals lies at the core of my work. I use my subjects more as portals to this energy, offering viewers a chance to feel restored, energized, or comforted by connecting to specific animal imagery.
In larger sense, it’s my hope my paintings also simply honor the extraordinary diverse and beautiful creatures with whom we share our planet, and highlight our undeniable interconnectedness.
The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
– Wendell Berry
CV
EXHIBITIONS
2023 Sketch for Survival, Gallery@oxo, London, UK and Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh, IE
2022 Peaceable Kingdom, TEW Galleries, Atlanta, GA (Dec-Jan 2023)
2018 Director's Choice, 19 KAREN Gallery, Australia (March-May)
2018 Fauna, Abend Gallery, Denver, CO (January)
2017 27th Annual Holiday Miniatures Show, Abend Gallery, Denver, CO (December)
2017 St. Hilda Annual Art Exhibition, St. Hilda School, Southport QLD, Australia (October)
2017 31st Annual Downlands Art Exhibition, Downlands College, Toowoomba QLD, Australia (September)
2017 Director's Choice, 19 KAREN Gallery, Australia (July)
2016 26th Annual Holiday Miniatures Show, Abend Gallery, Denver, CO (December)
2016 Premiere Exhibition, Animal History Museum, Burbank, CA (May)
2015 Selected Works, Elizabeth Gordon Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA (January)
2004 The Back Room, Gallery C, Hermosa Beach, CA
2003 Winter Group Show, James Gray Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA
2002 Winter Group Show, James Gray Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA
2000 Solid Ground, New Millennium Art Gallery, San Diego,CA
2000 Summer Group Show, New Millennium Art Gallery, San Diego, CA
2000 Opening Night, New Millennium Art Gallery, San Diego, CA
2000 Holiday Show, Articulture Gallery, Hermosa Beach, CA
1999 Summer Group Show, Articulture Gallery, Hermosa Beach, CA
1999 Homegrown Talent, Articulture Gallery, Hermosa Beach, CA
1998 Winter Group Show, BGH Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA
1995 Fall Group Juried Show, Palos Verdes Art Center, Palos Verdes Estates, CA
PERIODICALS
2017 Susan Cullen Hamilton, “Painter Aimée Hoover Explores Her Animal Instinct,” Southbay Magazine (December)
2017 Michael Hixon, “30 Paintings in 30 Days?,” The Beach Reporter (August)
2016 Mission Village Voice, Cover Art / Featured Artist (March)
2008 Bark Magazine (December)
2006 Solano Magazine (December)
2006 Urban Animal, “Pet Art” (February)
TELEVISION
2010 The Bonnie Hunt Show, On-air guest, NBC (January)
2010 The Bonnie Hunt Show, On-air guest / Interview, NBC (March)
2009 The Bonnie Hunt Show, work presented on air, NBC (February)
EDUCATION
1992 Bachelor of Arts, with emphasis in Drawing and Painting, California State University Long Beach
To hear more about Aimée’s story, feel free to listen to one of her podcast interviews below.
