Q: How would you describe PLNTD: A Soulful Exhibition in one line? A: It’s rooted in soul and grown in expression — inspired by the garden and grounded in Abstract Expressionism.
Q: What do you hope people feel when they walk into Chalk Gallery? A: I hope they feel a sense of wonder — something cool, refined, and alive. I want it to feel like walking into a space you might find in Provincetown or the Lower East Side — professional, soulful, and full of energy.
Q: How did moving from Hong Kong to Newburyport change your work? A: It completely shifted my sense of color. Seeing and feeling the garden every day — the greens, oranges, shadows, textures — it opened something up in me. I’d never really experienced that beauty so directly before.
Q: Which painting feels like the heart of the show? A:Orange Held Green and Let All My Gardens Speak for Me. They hold that balance between chaos and calm — stillness and tangle. I had the most fun painting those. The 24-inch tondo also feels special — painting on a round was a new challenge and a joy.
Q: You practice Baptiste Power Yoga. How does that influence your painting? A: Yoga teaches you to stay present — you’re on the mat, moment by moment, breath by breath. Painting is the same. You sit with one canvas, one moment, until the next arrives.
Q: Describe your ideal studio ritual. A: I walk in, ask Sonos to play something — maybe Trevor Hall, maybe Miles Davis, maybe a little jazz with a strong stand-up bass line. Then I prep my brushes, paints, and water, and light a few Holly Gagne candles. I sit for a bit, breathe, and just take in the light and scent. Sometimes I’ll scroll through photos of the garden or look at Joan Mitchell’s work to get inspired. Then I wait — until the first gesture comes naturally.
Q: What materials or surfaces do you gravitate toward? A: I love raw canvas — the way it absorbs paint, even when primed clear. White canvas gives a bright counterpoint, and deckle-edged paper has this earthy, tactile energy that’s perfect for pastels.
Q: You’ve mentioned Mitchell, Frankenthaler, Rothko, Kline, and de Kooning — what connects you to them? A: They all carried emotion through color and movement. Mitchell’s balance of energy and restraint, Frankenthaler’s openness, Rothko’s depth, Kline’s bold structural rhythm, and de Kooning’s fearless gesture — they each found truth through paint. I try to honor that lineage. My brushwork is more lyrical — but it lives in that same emotional field.
Q: Musically, who shapes your atmosphere? A: Trevor Hall is the main vibe — soulful, grounded, spiritual. But I listen to a lot of jazz too. So What by Miles Davis is kind of my go-to. There’s something about a deep bass line — that slow, steady pulse — that matches how I move through paint.
Q: If your color world this year had a three-word palette? A: Green and orange. Nature and fire — calm and pulse.
Q: Tell us about Mimi’s Garden. A: My mother loved fall — the sweaters, pumpkins, the warm colors. She was born October 27th, so I wanted to paint that season she adored. The gestures rise like branches, and there’s even a nod to a pumpkin form at the bottom. It feels like a crisp autumn day — apples, cider doughnuts, sweaters, and memory.
Q: Which pastel from Songs on Paper feels closest to your core? A:The Color Waited for the Threshold of Dawn. It’s an orange block over green with lots of air and quiet between them. It feels still and radiant — like the moment before the garden wakes up.
Q: For a new collector, what’s the best entry point? A: The works on paper are a great start — accessible and intimate. The tondos are another nice step, or a mid-size 20 × 24 canvas. My work fits anywhere — in a reading nook, above a mantel, or in a bright, modern space. Each piece adds its own presence, whether energy or stillness.
Q: Where do you see your work living? A: Anywhere art feels alive — where someone appreciates color, movement, and the spirit behind it.
Q: Was there a painting that took time to resolve? A:Let All My Gardens Speak for Me — that one challenged me. I painted over, carved out negative space, and learned to leave breath inside it. Sometimes you need to step back, let it rest overnight, and see it fresh. That’s when it finally clicked.
Q: Finish this sentence: “This show is a garden of…” A: Love and energy — a new beginning, a new level of painting.
Q: Song on repeat in the studio? A:So What by Miles Davis — always. That and A Reminder by Trevor Hall. His words — “my love is a reminder to find your center” — capture what painting means to me. It’s about grounding in spirit and rhythm.
Q: Three words your friends would use to describe you? A: Artistic. Cool style. Generous.
Q: Favorite Newburyport unwind spot? A: Walking Mazie at Plum Island — that’s where I find clarity and peace. Or grabbing something at Joppa Fine Foods.
✍️ Artist Bio
Dave Hay is a Scottish-American abstract painter based in Newburyport, Massachusetts. His work explores the meeting point of spirit, rhythm, and color — blending lyrical gesture with the emotional depth of landscape and memory.
Influenced by Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, and Willem de Kooning, Hay’s paintings carry the lineage of Abstract Expressionism while infusing it with contemporary soul and stillness.
Guided by his yoga practice and a love of music — from Trevor Hall to Miles Davis — Hay’s work becomes a visual rhythm of breath and presence. The lyric “my love is a reminder to find your center” from Trevor Hall’s A Reminderserves as a quiet mantra within his creative process and within the garden that fuels his inspiration.
Through color and rhythm, his work becomes, as he says, “a reminder to find one’s own center.”