Kenneth-Hawkey-at-Pilgrim-Monument-and-Provincetown-Museum

Art a Lifetime Passion for Kenneth Hawkey

Sometimes exploration is the best way to tap into your creative talents. That’s the journey Truro’s Kenneth Hawkey has taken as a self-taught artist. “Painting and creating art is the one constant in my life.…

Sometimes exploration is the best way to tap into your creative talents. That’s the journey Truro’s Kenneth Hawkey has taken as a self-taught artist.

“Painting and creating art is the one constant in my life. It’s the one thing that’s been with me ever since I was a kid,” Hawkey admits. “It’s something that came naturally to me. I’m a visual communicator. I probably communicate visually better than verbally.”

Hawkey, who is participating in the AFCC’s Deck the Walls small works art sale, has a piece, West End Moors, that embodies his distinctive style. “My work, my style, and my development all stem from applying the principles of design,” he says. “No one told me what size brush or what colors to use or how to arrange the paints on a palette. Painting always felt like a personal thing for me. If you develop your own way, you develop your own success and you’ll be more comfortable in what you’re doing rather than following what somebody else told you to do.”

A native of Schenectady, New York, Hawkey received his bachelor’s degree in fine arts, theatrical design, and English, from SUNY Geneseo in 1982. That year was his first vivid memory of visiting the Cape. “I remember driving around and walking around and saying, ‘God, wouldn’t it be nice to live here? But that’s never going to happen.’”

Two years later, it did. He moved to Marstons Mills, staying for a few years before relocating to New York City, where he worked as a book designer.

In 1991, he returned. This time, he never left.  

West End Moors by Kenneth Hawkey

Influenced by Edward Hopper, Hawkey’s earliest works played with strong contrasts of light. “After doing that for quite some time, I wanted to do a series of paintings that was the exact opposite,” he says. “I did a series of paintings with diffused light. The paintings did not have a lot of contrast in them. They were paintings at different times of day – at dawn, dusk, cloudy days, foggy days, and times in nature where there isn’t all that much contrast.

“I wanted to try something different and had good success at that,” he continues. “And it was received favorably.”

As part of his creative process, he primarily works from his sketches of places he’s been. The art of painting is “kind of a meditative place for me where I’m not really concentrating on exactly what I’m doing. When you break out of it, it’s like, ‘Wow, look at what I just did. That just happened.’”

West End Moors is set in a location Hawkey is quite familiar with — the very end of Provincetown. “It’s a simple scene,” he admits. “But there’s a sense of preservation to it – look at how beautiful everything is and let’s not destroy it and enjoy what we have on Cape Cod.”

Now in his early 60s, Hawkey’s goal is to continue to express himself through his work and to find places where he can both show and sell his art. Along with the painting at the AFCC’s Deck the Walls, Hawkey’s pieces have been exhibited throughout the region at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod, Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM), Creative Arts Center in Chatham, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown as well as in his hometown at The Schenectady Light Opera Arts and Education Center.

He is currently represented by Larkin Gallery in both Harwich Port and Provincetown.

“I hope to continue to create and continue to show my work. Part of art is not just creating but showing it and I want to always be able to continue to do that,” he says. “It is always great when you sell a painting. It makes you happy. But to send your work around the world and around the country, knowing it’s in different places, in different towns, and different states, it is kind of a personal feel-good. But the most important part is being able to continue to do the work and continue to show it and share it.”

The AFCC’s Deck the Walls kicked off on November 28 and runs through December 12. Proceeds from the event will go to strengthen the Arts Foundation’s work to promote, support, and celebrate the arts on Cape Cod. To view a list of artwork for sale, click the button below.

To learn more about Kenneth Hawkey or view more of his work, visit his website, KennethHawkey.com.