Press Release for Hannah Jarmain PREMIER exhibit

By: Melanie Harris de Maycotte
For immediate release!

Hannah Jarmain - the artist and her art

(San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; June 12, 2009) San Miguel artist, Hannah Jarmain, was born in Ninh Binh, Viet Nam, into the Pham family. Her interest in art manifested at an early age, inspired by her uncle Pham Tang, one of Viet Nam’s best known International artists who left the country in political exile to Italy in 1957. His revolutionary approach to art won Pham Tang the first prize of UNESCO in Rome and placed him in the forefront of International artistic language and really spoke to the sensibilities of the new Vietnamese youth and awoke a new perspective in the creative minds of Hannah’s generation.

In the 1970’s Hannah’s family encouraged her to move to Canada to study business. She spent most of her adult life in Quebec, Montreal City and Toronto where she obtained her MBA and later worked as a business executive in the cosmetics industry for the next 20 years. During her time in Canada she would correspond regularly with her uncle and upon his visit to Canada in 1980, he left a lasting impression on Hannah about art and life and encouraged her to follow her artistic inclinations in whatever capacity possible. For Hannah, this tended to mean that only during rare, sporadic moments, the pencil or brush actually made it to her hand.

It is by fate that Hannah came to visit the historic town of San Miguel de Allende and fell in love with its beauty and energy. San Miguel‘s cultural richness and colorful landscapes brought out her affinity for nature and renewed her passion for art. Here she has also had the opportunity to study under some of Mexico’s finest art teachers, such as Jose Luis Arias, Gerardo Ruiz and Keith Keller, however she is still primarily a self-taught artist who has developed a unique style of her own. We see in her use of bright colors a direct reflection of the unique color palette of San Miguel and Mexico.

For her first show, Hannah has chosen the nude as her subject. They are a reflection of the nakedness she feels during the unveiling of her innermost secret world through her art. The soft figures she so gently paints on her deep, rich backgrounds are very reminiscent of Chagall and yet are uniquely hers in their grace. Her choice of placing them in front of a curtain or prostrate on the ground or doubled over in fetal pose very much reflect her daily journey in art and through life.

Hannah’s “Premier” show can be seen at Gallery MERO
Zacateros 24, near Pila Seca,
Centro San Miguel de Allende,
GTO, 37700 Mexico.
Tel: 044-415-102-1680
As a ritual Hannah goes out in the morning for her art walk or “en plein air” painting session, you can meet the artist at gallery MERO, most days in the afternoon from 4-7pm until August 31st, 2009.