All Art ©Steve Hanks ©The Greenwich Workshop, Inc.

Meet the Artist: About Steve Hanks

Although teachers often cited his artistic ability, Steve Hanks' main interest while growing up around San Francisco was sports. As a young teenager, Hanks pursued surfing and tennis with passion. He eventually tired of a steady diet of competitive tennis, but continued to surf, finding a spiritual connection with the ocean. "Surfing had a strong influence on my paintings," he says. "The ocean often appears in my work, because I have such strong feelings for it."

Although it was apparent early on that he had talent, Hanks refused to do the required assignments in his high school art class and earned a grade of C in the class. "To prove I was good, I did a one-man show at the high school and sold my first painting to another art teacher," he says.

After high school Hanks enrolled in summer session commercial art courses at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. "The only way I could convince my parents to let me go was to say I was going into commercial art," he says. "I didn't even know what that was!" He did well in his commercial art classes, but it was a life drawing class that captured his interest. He focused his energy on the study of anatomy and figure drawing and transferred into the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California. He graduated in the 1960s with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, and then moved back to New Mexico in search of a home art gallery.

Initially, he drew in pencil and painted in oils. His paintings were impressionistic while his drawings were more realistic. Eventually, an allergic reaction to oils forced him to experiment with watercolors. Using the techniques learned from other mediums, he found he could create watercolors as "finished" as oils. Deeply affected by the emotions, shifting attitudes and music of the 1960s, the music of 60s icon Bob Dylan often accompanies Hanks as he paints in his studio today.

Steve Hanks' paintings are much more than endearing images of women and children. Rather than conveying a specific message through his paintings, Hanks prefers to explore memories and emotions. "My paintings speak to the vulnerability that we all feel from time to time. They evoke nostalgia, transporting us back in time," Hanks says. "All art is an escape to somewhere you want to be or a feeling you want to have. People see different things in my paintings because we all have different backgrounds and feelings."

Hanks highly collected nudes convey an introspective solitude that prompts the viewer to think about his or her own life and path. "Women occupy a special niche in my sensitivity. They express more storytelling ability. There's more magic in them," he says.

Art jurors began recognizing the quality of his work in 1973. Steve Hanks won the Arts for the Parks Marine Art Award of Excellence in 1990 and 1994, and has been one of the Arts for the Parks top 100 artists since 1989. In 1991, Steve Hanks received the National Watercolor Society Merit Award and the National Academy of Western Art awarded him the Gold Medal in 1992. Since 1993, he has been one of U.S. Art Magazine's top ten American artists. When the Pacific Rim show in Seattle, WA decided to open the show up to a wider variety of art in 1999, they selected Steve as Artist of the Year. Steve was one of five winners selected to the U.S. Art Hall of Fame 2000. He was named as one of the top 25 selling artists in the June, 2002 issue of Decor magazine. The 7th Annual Andre Agassi Grand Slam for Children chose Steve as their Feature Artist in 2002.

Greenwich Workshop Fine Art Limited Edition Print
14" w x 27 1/2h.
550 s/n.
$175 US | $210 CDN | £120 | €170
Shipping in April
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From a Higher Level
by Steve Hanks

The art of Steve Hanks is rich with symbolism and metaphor. His titles are a key to understanding the deeper message waiting to be discovered in each painting, and, often have more than one meaning. "From a Higher Level is, on one hand a relationship piece, and on the other, about the necessity of getting above the messiness of life's daily grind. Simple but conscious acts can lift us out of the toil and finally place us on a higher ground," Hanks says. "The piece is also about communication, and how the rider and horse converse without necessarily using words. The rider and horse can also represent the relationship between art and the ability of art to communicate beyond words—From a Higher Level."

Greenwich Workshop Fine Art Limited Edition Canvas
31" w x 20" h.
100 s/n.
$695 US | $840 CDN | £450 | €680
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Greenwich Workshop Fine Art Limited Edition Print
24" w x 15.5" h.
550 s/n.
$175 US | $210 CDN | £120 | €170
Shipping in April
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Recent Original Paintings
These other recent original paintings by Steve Hanks are under consideration
for future Greenwich Workshop Fine Art Limited Editons.

New Shoreline

Running from the Tide

Waiting in the Rain

Raising Daughters

Country Girls
by Steve Hanks
Original Size: 10 7/8" x 15 7/8"



Dancing on the Shore
by Steve Hanks
Original Size: 16 1/2" x 11" each

Catching the Rain

Nature's Touch

With the Sun in Her Hair