Artist Statement

My work is strongly rooted in the natural world.  I’m always searching for the images that reflect the soul of the places of my memory.  Sometimes this leads me in a more realistic direction, sometimes the work is more abstract; sometimes I paint furiously, others painstakingly.  I’m a passionate fly angler, distance hiker, and outdoor enthusiast and those passions provide a rich visual vocabulary from which I draw for much of my work.  

Over the years, my work has coalesced into a few main themes; landscapes and fish related art.   I use sketching, my own photography, and visual memory as the source material for my work. In my landscape work, I try to capture the mood of a place through a somewhat impressionistic approach. I’m alway trying to find the balance between accuracy and improvisation.  While landscape painting is just as important to me, most of my audience knows me for my fish art. I have created a large body of work where paint fish in a more classical “portrait” style.  These are my way of capturing the jewel like beauty of these incredible animals.  I also explore the colors of the fish that I catch with more abstract works. These works range from close up detailed studies of scale patterns to wildly expressionistic pattern explorations. After living in Eastern Europe for a short time, I became fascinated with the use of gold leaf and have incorporated it into many of my works, both landscapes and fish.

About the Artist

Ted Hansen grew up on a small farm in Dillon, MT. In his youth, much of his free time was spent outdoors - hunting, fishing, and exploring the wilderness with his family. His love of wild places has only strengthened since. After graduating from Beaverhead County High School, he went on to study theater, music, and visual art at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. During his twenties he worked several jobs but consistently worked on his artwork, honing his craft. It was also during this time that he served in the Peace Corps in Bulgaria and was strongly influenced by the gold leaf artworks of the Bulgaria Orthodox churches. Eventually he would return to school to earn a Masters of Art Education from the University of Minnesota in 2012 and has been an Art teacher ever since. He currently teaches Art at Anthony Middle School in Minneapolis.

In 2023 Ted and his wife hiked the Continental Divide Trail, which runs from Canada to Mexico through the rocky mountains. He kept an art journal as he went and is currently working on a new body of work inspired by his experiences.

Past exhibitions and experiences include:

• Art-A-Whirl Exhibitor, 2010 - 2023

• “Release” - MN Fly Fishing Artists, Phipps Center for the Arts, Hudson, WI

• “Artist Wilderness Connection” - Solo exhibition, Dillon, MT

• 2018 Artist in Residence - Bob Marshall Wilderness, MT

• Balsam Arts - Juried Group Exhibition - Balsam, WI

• Lanesboro Art Center - Juried group exhibition, Lanesboro MN

• “CDT Beaverhead County” -Solo exhibition, Dillon, MT

All images are copyright protected.