Ailyn Hoey

Growing up in rural Vermont, Hoey spent many hours exploring the banks of the Williams. Hoey has always liked to create with her hands and started painting and drawing as a child. In her teens she studied with artist Jeanne Carbonetti and embraced this teacher’s unconventional approach to watercolor.
A month-long residency at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont in 2000 was pivotal in clarifying Hoey’s desire to create art professionally. Subsequently, she moved into the Exner Block, an artists’ community where she lived and worked for a year. Gradually, Hoey shifted into creating art full time, developing her current focus: landscapes in charcoal.
The terrains that inspire Hoey provide solitude. They are often remote, rugged, harsh, and unspoiled. Each year she spends time creating art on Great Cranberry Island, Maine, as well as in West Texas and Vermont. Most recently, she has found inspiration in south Florida’s wilderness.
Hoey was awarded two residencies, first in the Everglades National Park in 2005 and then in Big Cypress National Preserve in 2006. As artists in residence, she slogged through cypress domes, drew in her studio and conversed with park visitors.