Art & Life with Annelise Hewitt-Hewie-Lewis

Today we’d like to introduce you to Annelise Hewitt-Hewie-Lewis.

Annelise, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I’m from Santa Monica, but I’m currently in The Netherlands making handmade abstract 2D paper art (collage) that sometimes appears 3D.

Through my work, I try to challenge the way we look at the world by showing that visual interpretation is subjective: everyone perceives visual information differently. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with the brain and wanted to understand how we use it to make sense of our surroundings. I think my interest in how we perceive information was motivated by often being confronted with the question, “what are you?” by people who wanted to know about my ethnic background. It’s a strange question to hear repeatedly. There are so many possible interpretations of “what” someone is. I became curious about the brain’s constant need to identify and categorize what we see and wanted to understand how visual perception works.

It became clear to me that when we encounter something unidentifiable, the brain can only rely on previous information and is actively processing new information through a sort of familiarity filter. When looking at something, we ask ourselves: do I know what I am looking at? If not, does it remind me of something that I already know?

My story (maybe not so unique) is that I make art that hopefully allows viewers to become more aware of our processes of visual interpretation and to realize that there are many answers to questions of identifying what we see.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I make abstract paper collages with my X-acto knife, scissors, discarded paper materials, and acrylic medium as adhesive. I work from images on paper that I find in old magazines, discarded books, or out of date travel guides. It’s important to me to use discarded secondhand materials because this planet has a major waste problem and we need to cut down on our crazy consumption habits.

I love starting with recognizable images and turning them into unknown, yet somehow familiar, forms. Through my work, I hope to remind people that everyone has a unique eye that perceives what we look at based on our own individual experiences and interpretations. I’m currently exploring how to create the illusion of three-dimensional art on a two-dimensional surface.

What would you recommend to an artist new to the city, or to art, in terms of meeting and connecting with other artists and creatives?
I feel pretty fortunate to know a good deal of creative people from my childhood and working for six years at Abso Lutely Productions (Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Eric Andre Show, Nathan for You and so forth). If anyone reading this is looking for a new artist friend, just slide into my DMs on Instagram please (@scrapsguys). Also, my mom, Kathryn Hewitt, who is an amazing children’s book author and illustrator in Santa Monica suggests signing up for classes or workshops to meet other creative people because LA is filled with creative outlets.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
www.annelisehewitt.com and @scrapsguys on Instagram is where most of my work can be seen. You can support my work by contacting me through my site to buy any works or commission new individual works.

Two large (10 ft x 8 ft) privately commissioned diptychs of mine are being installed in Utrecht, The Netherlands, in September and I’ll be showing some more works in Alkmaar, The Netherlands in the 100% Female group exhibition in October this year.