Ms. Hanlon, whose work has been compared to that of Edward Hopper, creates "urban landscapes which quietly exude atmosphere". She draws inspiration for her art from the Old Masters, especially from their use of Sacred Geometry or dynamic symmetry, as a compositional tool.
Hanlon received her BFA in Painting in 1976 from Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA in Painting in 1997 from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, where she has been part-time faculty since 1997. In past years, her work has received many first place awards, including the 1996 Art for Parks Sake $1000 First Place Scholarship, and (2) Academy of Art College Faculty Choice awards.
Her 1997 MFA thesis exhibition, entitled "Home Street Home", was attended by Mayor Willie Brown, as well as the news media, and raised almost $1500 for the Coalition on Homelessness. She has been instrumental in organizing major fundraising auctions for the Coalition in the fall of 1999, 2001 and 2002, each of which cleared $15,000 to $20,000 to benefit services for the homeless community.
She was represented by Jenkins Johnson Gallery in San Francisco from 1998 until 2004, when she had a solo show entitled "Vessels and Vehicles". A major homeless triptych entitled "Serenity Base" was included in the summer "Selections 2000" exhibition at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Her work was also shown for the first time in New York City that summer by Monique Goldstrom Gallery in "Introductions 2000". Another homeless piece garnered a Museum Award in the "On Canvas" show at the Bolinas Museum, juried by Paule Anglim, in August 2000. An urban homeless piece was included in the 2000-2001 "Re-Presenting Representation 5" exhibition and catalogue, sponsored by the Arnot Art Museum in Elmira, NY. Her work was included in the Annual Realism Invitationals at Jenkins Johnson Gallery from 1999 through 2003. She was part of a national juried show at the Berkeley Art Center in August 2002, which lead to an interview and feature article on her work in the December issue of the newspaper Street Spirit. In early 2003 her work was included in the 2nd Annual San Francisco International Art Expo, and an invitational group show entitled " Night Shift " at the Oakland Museum Collector's Gallery. In 2004, her work was juried into two national juried shows: the Marin Society of Artists' "National Exhibition 2004" and "Arts on Fire VIII " at the Sanchez Art Center.
In 2005 she was in many exhibitions including a two person show entitled "Geometry as Compositional Device and Art Form" with her former Sacred Geometry MFA professor Mark A. Reynolds. Her work was in three national juried exhibits including the first San Francisco RISD Biennial, juried by several prestigious jurors including Philip Linhares, Chief Curator at the Oakland Musuem. Her work was juried into the 2005 Bay Area Annual at the Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica, receiving a Juror's Award from Karen Tsujimoto, Senior Curator at the Oakland Museum and she was juried into the
Earlier in the year she received an Honorable Mention in the Berkeley Art Center Members Showcase 2006 and was juried into the Arts on Fire X exhibition by Larry Rinder. One of her paintings was juried into the 13th Annual Coos Bay Museum Maritime exhibition this summer, receiving the Port of Coos Bay Commissioner's Award and her work may be seen at the Collector's Gallery of the Oakland Museum. Three of her urban landscapes were selected as finalists in the Landscape category of the Artist's Magazine 23rd Annual Art Competition, published in the December 2006 issue. Most recently she received a Juror's Award from Karen Kienzle, curator of the DeSaisset Museum, in the 2006 Bay Area Annual at the Sanchez Art Center. She was in a group invitational traveling exhibit entitled "Intimate Landscape" at the Winfield Gallery in Carmel, CA and the Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery at UC Santa Cruz through January 2007. She was selected as a finalist in the Richmond Art Center Members show to be part of the Members Showcase 2007 in Sept/October. She had a second show that summer with Mark Reynolds at the Atrium Gallery in San Francisco, combining her narrative paintings with his geometric drawings.
In 2008, she was in many shows including the Coos Art Museum 15th Annual Maritime Exhibition in which she won the Best in Show award for one of her oil tanker paintings. She was again selected as a finalist in the Artist Magazine 25th Annual Art Competition and was featured in Competition Spotlight in the September 2009 issue. Beginning in February 2009, her urban homeless paintings will be part of an invitational three year traveling exhibition entitled "Hobos to Street People: Artists' Responses to Homelessness From the New Deal to the Present" which will tour the state of California, beginning
with the California Historical Society in San Francisco. The show was displayed in three venues during the year, including the Bakersfield Museum of Art where it continued into 2010. The exhibition continued to tour for several more years with shows at museums and educational venues in California and Colorado.
Ms. Hanlon conducted educational and technical seminars on paint, color and art materials for
Winsor & Newton at colleges and universities around the Bay area and in the Pacific Northwest from 1998 through until late 2015.
She is currently having her first solo art museum exhibition at the Coos Art Museum, entitled Anthropocene Legacy which runs from July 9th through October 1st, 2022. Her work has become increasingly focused on the effects of climate change on the environment, including the increasing forest fires, drought, melting glaciers and ice sheets.
She continues as an adjunct graduate and undergraduate faculty at the Academy of Art University, teaching fine art and design courses.
