Rebecca Suzanne Haines‘ painting, Trickster Travels #4: the Thinning Veils, conveys her love for animals. Bold, vibrant colors work in tandem with angular line to produce a blend of realism and abstraction. Her fascination with depicting animals began after studying the mystical and spiritual symbolism of animals represented in cultures all over the world. Rebecca uses both oil paint and china marker, which combine in a collage-like ambiance. In this particular piece, Rebecca incorporates multiple eyes — a recurring motif in her work — creating a strong sense of movement and an air of mystery.
HAF: Share with us your affinity for animals, especially the deer.
Rebecca: The deer is the animal I most resonate with, followed closely by the coyote and raven. I often feel I am a deer trapped in a human body and that’s why life can feel so challenging sometimes! The deer represents gentleness and a return to the natural world. Often throughout history, the deer is included in sacred images from many different traditions: on the top of Buddhist monasteries, we often see the wheel of life in the middle with a deer positioned on either side; in images of Jesus, he is often pictured walking with a deer; in other middle eastern traditions, the deer is often pictured in their religious artwork and illuminated poetry.
In many Native American tribes, the deer is the most sacred and important of all the animals for many reasons. Deer antlers are often seen to represent ‘sacred antennae’ to the spiritual realm, a way of tapping into those places. The Huichol Indians from Mexico portray their medicine people in their artwork with antlers, which symbolizes this belief. And the deer, the female doe especially, represents to me personally, a boundless sense of wonder and magic and playfulness. The coyote and raven are both trickster beings and this aspect of them appeals to me greatly as well.
HAF: Please talk about the unique approach of the multiple eye image in many of your paintings?
Rebecca: I’ve used the multiple eye image (and other types of repetition) for many years, sometimes more than others.
Animals resonate with my core, and I am impressed upon by them — by their presence, their appearance, their mystery and message. Like attracting like. Throughout all of recorded time, humans have depicted animals in their art. They help us relate to our world, often acting as intermediaries between the civilized and the wild, between the known and the mysterious. Animals are a link to the sacredness of all that is. Rebecca S. Haines
HAF: Did you study science? Your work has an often mathematical aesthetic.
Rebecca: I did love math when I was in high school, but now I’m more fascinated with quantum physics and the idea of multiple views, visions, realities, realms, all occurring at once — time and space overlap and how they interplay with a spiritual aspect and sacred way of being in the world. My creatures are not usually running or ‘in motion’ in the literal sense. They are moving in a different way, thinking, sensing, communicating with me and the viewer in a more animated manner. I try to learn from them through these communications.