Halona Hilbertz: HEXEN - Artist Statement

 

I have always been fascinated by witches. I was scared of them, of course. One lived under my bed, one in my closet. The one under my bed had, like Snoopy in his dog house, an absurdly huge subterranean palace. Always stirring a wooden spoon in her humongous cauldron of hot bubbling substances, she was waiting to add a juicy piece of child meat to her magical soup. I was terrified of leaving a foot sticking out past the bed’s edge, for fear that she would pull me under and throw me into her pot.

My visions of witches were informed by the classic Grimm fairy tales, just as Disney’s movies were. Having German parents who emigrated to the States before I was born, and sometimes embarking on those rare cross-Atlantic airplane trips, I was familiar with the lush German forests and a culture of mysticism rooted in them. The dense, dark pine trees obviously hid witches’ huts from general view.

A favorite carnival disguise was the witch, with fabric-shred dresses and self-made cardboard fingernails and warts applied to my body with glue. Later, herbs, potions, and utensils completed my look. But really anytime, a favorite activity was to dress up as an odd, old, stooped woman with a cackling, cracking voice, ring the doorbell, and try to convince my mother that this was not her daughter offering wares from her basket of mysterious goods.

My mother - a powerful, beloved presence in my life. Like a ‘good’ witch, she was my rock. But when I was mad at her, I liked to paint the outlines of a horrid witch’s face on the mirror for her to ‘fit’ her face in, with the words “Mama you are a WITCH” scrawled below.

Only later did I realize the origins of my enchantment. A witch is a female person of power not determined by a male figure - not a queen married to the king; not a mother to a holy son; not a princess waiting to be saved by the prince. Nor does she aim to please male figures: She is ugly, old, loud, mean. Past the reproductive phase, she does not need to be nurturing. She is not accepted socially- so she might as well do as she pleases. She takes what she wants. The witch stands utterly alone in her self-contained power, a power others don’t understand. She answers only to one force, and that is Nature.

The witch lives hidden in the forest, or in a hut overgrown by its garden. She has at least one “familiar” - a trusted animal by her side. She knows all about plants, animals, fungi, lichen and slimes, and how to use them in magical potions. She is deeply ensconced in wilderness - away from human society.

The witch moves with soil, wind, rain, pollen. Sometimes visible, mostly she is not. Because she doesn’t want to deal with you, human. Only when she is very hungry might she approach you. She is a force to be reckoned with. I wouldn’t incur her wrath if I were you.

Pictured: Halona Hilbertz - Witch 1 - Wood, fabric, lichen, acrylic on polymer clay, polyester stuffing - 17 1/2" x 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" - 2022