We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alain Hentschel a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alain, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
The artistic journey is a path filled with discovery, perseverance, and transformation. Throughout my years as an artist, I have learned that creativity is not merely an occasional spark but an essential, daily practice that fuels life itself. The challenge lies in embracing this necessity with an open heart and mind—allowing imagination to roam freely without fear or constraint.
My process often begins with a moment or idea that resists immediate resolution. I do not rush these beginnings but let them settle, sometimes for years, trusting that clarity will eventually reveal itself. One of the most profound examples of this came from a painting I started back in 1982. For decades, it lingered unfinished, a silent invitation rather than a completed statement. The unexpected pause brought by the pandemic in 2021 gifted me a rare, intense period of focus. It was then that the neglected canvas whispered a way forward, culminating in “An Inebriated Matisse Visits Palatka” (see photos). This piece not only became a personal favorite but also resonated quickly with others. This experience underscored an essential truth: no matter how long creative challenges endure, if we remain patient and open, solutions will emerge. The creative spirit has a steady and reliable pulse when given space to breathe.
Emotions and lived experiences profoundly influence my art, serving as both catalyst and compass. Life’s complexities, joys, and struggles infuse each brushstroke with meaning beyond the surface image. Creative blocks or moments of low motivation are not obstacles but invitations to step back and trust the process, knowing that inspiration will return. Over time, the confidence built through experience helps me face blank canvases without hesitation, secure in the knowledge that the seeds of inspiration lie within me.
Experimentation is vital to my work; it keeps the process dynamic and alive. There is no rigid formula to declare a piece finished—rather, it is an intuitive recognition that the work has reached its most honest and compelling form. This balance between creative vision and external expectations requires constant negotiation, but I strive to maintain authenticity in every piece, letting personal values and messages guide the journey rather than commercial pressures.
Sharing deeply personal aspects of my art requires vulnerability, yet it is this openness that often sparks profound connections with others. Feedback and collaboration can illuminate new perspectives, enriching the creative process and helping ideas evolve with fresh energy. At the same time, solitude and environment play crucial roles. Quiet moments alone nurture reflection and allow my imagination the freedom to explore uncharted territories.
Looking toward the future, my creative goals focus on continued growth and evolution. I hope to leave behind a legacy that speaks to resilience, curiosity, and the enduring power of imagination. Creativity is not a destination but an ongoing journey, one that thrives on trust, patience, and the willingness to embrace the unknown.
To anyone struggling to connect with their creativity, my advice is to remain gentle with yourself and to recognize that inspiration rarely follows a straight path. Sometimes the best way forward is to step away, allow time to pass, and trust that ideas will reemerge strengthened and clearer. Creativity has a way of finding those who continue to listen and remain open, no matter how long it takes.
In the end, art is an expression of life’s depth, complexity, and beauty. It is both a mirror and a doorway—reflecting who we are and inviting us toward who we might become. Through patience, openness, and fearless experimentation, creativity can guide us to unexpected and rewarding places.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Born in Manchester, New Hampshire, my earliest memories were of cold winters with bright snow collecting so high against our house that all you could see looking out the window was sheer, blinding white. Apparently at one point, my parents had had enough of the frigid climate and mosquito infested summers to decide to head for California, sometime before my teenage years. Most of my young life was subsequently spent happily half submerged in tide pools, collecting shells and investigating sea-life, admiring the shining reflection of sunlight on every natural surface. The ocean was amazing to me and became a source for my creative impulse.
After graduating with a master’s degree in drawing and painting from California State University, Long Beach in 1976, I left the US to discover what the world held for a young artist. My first stop was the island of Rhodes, in Greece, where again the charms of the ocean, already engrained in me, were enhanced by artifacts of ancient civilizations at hand. The world was unfolding in wonderful ways and the desire to capture that sensation was beginning to be manifest in my artwork.
Two years and several destinations later, I landed in Paris thanks to a subsidized residency at the Cité International des Arts. I was already familiar with the city and the language thanks to my French-born mother and had hopes of studying many of the great works of art at the source. As fate and French lineage would have it, the City of Light became my home for the next twenty-four years!
Looking back, highlights such as exhibiting at the Grand Palais in the group show Les Grands et Jeunes Aujourd’hui or at the Mona Bismarck Foundation’s Les Artistes Américains à Paris (1945-1997) along with myriad other solo and group shows, made for indelible memories of a youthful adventure in the arts in arguably the most beautiful, albeit competitive, city in the world.
Fast forwarding years later in my long-term employment at Parsons Paris, I ultimately served as Director of the Parsons Paris program from 1994 until 2002. It was then my wife and I decided to relocate to New York City. Back in the US, I continued working for the Parsons School of Design and contributed to its NASAD reaccreditation. Being able to experience the richness of art and culture in New York City only added depth to the realms of possibilities my own work might achieve. After my New York contract with Parsons expired, a new opportunity came in 2003 to be Associate Dean of one of the larger community colleges in the US, the College of DuPage, just outside Chicago. I was grateful for the additional experience of the illustrious resources of the Art Institute of Chicago, the local galleries and friendships of many artists I met and worked with in that art-friendly milieu. Finally, In 2009 I accepted a position south, as Dean of Florida School of the Arts where I worked until I retired in 2021. Upon retirement, I was awarded the title of Dean Emeritus and have since maintained a working relationship with this wonderful school as a member of its Advisory Board.
Coming to live in Florida felt like a return to a relationship with the sea, the ever-shifting weather that commands so much of life here. These half abstract but rooted in realty climatic elements continue to work their way into the themes and subjects of my paintings. I feel that since that last period of relocation, I’ve compiled a body of work that reflects my Floridian home through a particular lens. I therefore feel it is the right, indeed ideal time to share my evolved vision with my artistic community wherever I find it.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Curiosity: The quality that has had most effect on my creative journey is the curiosity to find out what might happen next and how what I do might enlighten me in my process. To be curious is to get past obstacles that take the work to the next level to see what can happen. It is critical to my art that I allow accidental incidents to infer unexpected paths forward.
Work Ethic: No matter what obstacles present themselves there must be an ability to push past the things that threaten to discourage you. Experience allows a certainty that if one can work through the problems encountered, success can be found.
Patience: The process of making art is not often a straight line, start to finish. There are usually many stops, starts, re-dos, and start overs along the way. There is a balance necessary, between the desperate energy of wanting to make things right and the patience necessary to make things interesting (hence right).
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
At 74, I think a lot about the idea of legacy. What I wish for my own legacy, but also what legacy was given me by my parents and how that affected the trajectory of my life. Given my generation, I suppose that in general, baby boomers were left to their own devices. That was certainly the case in my life. I was an only child with two working parents, and I was left with a lot of time when I was completely on my own. I guess that could have derailed my life in many ways, but I think it benefitted me. My artistic creative outlets were a staple pastime – and look where that led. It’s been positive on the whole.
The other most impactful thing was what I was given by my mother. She married my father after WWII in France, and he brought his war bride wife to the US before I was born. My mother’s French connection made it natural for her to take me back to France at a young age to meet my French family, and then at periods throughout my life. This made my decision later move abroad seem much more natural. My world had been expanded early, and I had no fear of living in it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://forces-at-play.com
- Instagram: forcesatplay
- Facebook: Alain Hentschel
Image Credits
All photos of artwork : Alain Hentschel
Artist Portrait: Ginger Danto
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