Meet Brittany Hass | Artist & Independent Graphic Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brittany Hass and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brittany, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I’m from Montana originally, but I only lived there until kindergarten. At that point we moved into the Pacific Northwest—first Eastern Washington and then Western for middle and high school. But both sets of grandparents lived in Montana all my life, and my parents recently moved back, so it feels like someplace I’m “from” just as much as Washington, where I remember living more of my childhood.

Both places are well known for their wild places and beautiful natural resources. I grew up hiking, camping, and playing outside all throughout the northwest. I remember getting into patches of nettles multiple times while exploring near home, finding interesting bugs and even a cow skull on my grandparents’ eastern Montana ranch, learning about plant care as my parents landscaped a new build from scratch, and beachcombing, sandcastling, and wading on frigid northwest Pacific beaches.

When I went to college, I wanted to be an architect, and ended up graduating from the graphic design school within the architecture college as I specialized. It involved a lot of hand-eye coordination skills and we only really started using computers toward the end of the 4-year program (thank goodness!). I have worked in design for almost 20 years now, and it’s almost exclusively been on screens, even though most of what I do is destined for printed pages.

A few years ago, visiting the Denver Botanic Gardens, my mom and I saw a little brochure for their School of Botanical Art and Illustration. I thought it might be a good outlet—a way to use my hands and get a break from all the screen-based work. Four years later, I graduated from their program with distinction! While I’m still designing most of the time, I’m ramping up a fine art business with these new skills in several traditional media. My childhood interest in nature and observation of the small details in the world around me has come full circle as I create artwork that draws others’ attention to the same. I’m hoping to engage people’s sense of wonder and delight with nature to foster more respect for the planet we share.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have learned a very realistic style from my studies of traditional botanical illustration. This discipline is typically done in one medium at a time (graphite, pen and ink, watercolor, or colored pencil). However, there are a plethora of people achieving amazing realism in these single mediums, and I am interested in exploring how they interact and how each one can be used to its best advantage in combination. For instance, colored pencils are great for fine details, but time-consuming for big washes of color—which can be achieved in an instant with watercolor.

I also think there’s more room for establishing style as you move away from 100% photorealism, and for communicating a clear hierarchy when you control which parts of an image get the most detailed treatment and which can be background information. Our brains aren’t meant to take in 100% clarity in all directions—we focus on one thing at a time!

My education and long experience as a graphic designer also gives me a strong grasp of composition and how to direct the eye. After all, that aspect is paramount in an ad or brochure! So I can put this skill on autopilot and focus on the parts that really interest me, confident that my composition senses are strong.

The main challenge I’m in the middle of overcoming right now is how to balance all the things I want to do. I’m not “done” being a designer—I love that work and find a lot of joy in the client relationships I have built. I’m currently trying to focus on the design business Monday thru Thursday every week, and taking Fridays (as well as lots of evening and weekend hours) to focus on the art business. I’m not sure if this will ever feel settled, but I like to remind myself that balance is active. In fact I have that phrase on a little piece of paper on my studio door to make sure it’s always top of mind! Because not only am I always shifting focus from design to art, but also from work to motherhood, from finding stillness in meditation to productive time, etc. Just like with balancing on a skateboard or high wire, you can’t just “set it and forget it” with life balance—it’s a ton of microadjustments going on at all times.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I have been a member of the DCPA (Denver Center for the Performing Arts) for years, so we’d have to go see one of their shows. They’re always fabulous.

For dinner, I’m currently obsessed with Anise Modern Vietnamese Eatery, but Sushi Katsu, Stout Street Social, and the Corner Office would probably make the itinerary. Illegal Pete’s, Mad Greens and even Cheba Hut would also be on my list for more casual meals. I’d never go to that many restaurants in one week though 😀

I would spend a bit of time on the upstairs balcony at the Smoky Hill Library, because it’s the best balcony in town (and free!). We would have to visit Denver Botanic Gardens and its galleries, and also Tagawa Gardens. I’d probably take them on a favorite hike—maybe Castlewood Canyon or somewhere in the foothills. If they happened to have kids, we’d need to check out Westlands Park and Centennial Central Park, and probably also the Zoo!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The School of Botanical Art and Illustration at Denver Botanic Gardens

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