ABOUT
Hanna Bruer is an abstract artist in Madison, WI. Her paintings combine illegible text and grunge textures to create visceral atmospheres. Her work is inspired by her struggles with mental health and the canvas serves as a personal journal to create something beautiful out of adversity. Viewers often enjoy the aesthetic of her work, but truly fall in love with the work once they learn the story and inspiration behind each piece. She has permanent installations throughout the Midwest, including Northeast Wisconsin Technical College and Dane County Credit Union, and has worked with the National Alliance on Mental Illness for their Healing Art Shows.

Hanna also offers her work as performance through live painting. She converts a blank canvas into an active work of art, letting the bystander experience her creative process from start to finish. She has created paintings at venues such as the Majestic Theater and Memorial Union Terrace in Madison, as well as for Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Gallery Nights. Her work and story have been featured in the Wisconsin State Journal, Isthmus, and Cap Times publications in addition to being featured on NBC News.

CV

Downloadable copy available upon request. Please contact Hanna. 
HANNA BRUER
​hbruer@gmail.com  | hannabruer.com  | Madison WI
EXHIBITION RECORD [*denotes group show)

2022    FCE  Gallery Takeover, Dark Horse ArtBar, Madison WI*
2022    The HeART Show, Dark Horse ArtBar, Madison WI*
2020    Solo Exhibition, Madison Squash Workshop, Madison WI
2020    Fitch-Rona Art Crawl, Quivey's Grove, Fitchburg WI
2019    Quiet Control, Monroe Arts Center, Monroe WI
2019    Solo Exhibition, GNP, Madison WI
2019    Solo Exhibition, Quivey's Grove, Fitchburg WI
2018    NAMI's 12th Annual Healing Art Show, Lakeside St Coffee, Madison WI*
2018    Solo Exhibition, Hawks Quindel SC, Madison WI
2018    Solo Exhibition, Industrious, Madison WI
2018    Solo Exhibition, Synergy Coworking, Madison WI
2018    Fitch-Rona Art Crawl, Hop Haus Brewing, Verona WI
2017    In All This Vastness, Gib's, Madison WI
2017    Solo Exhibition, Hawks Quindel SC, Madison WI
2017    Solo Exhibition, Synergy Coworking, Madison WI
2017    Solo Exhibition, Alchemy, Madison WI
2016    Solo Exhibition, Lauer Realty Group, Madison WI
2016    Dead and Buried, Fat City Emporium, Madison WI*
2016    Homemade for the Holidays, Madison WI*
2016    Fat City Emporium's First Friday Show, Winedown, Madison WI*
2016    Fat City Emporium’s Gallery Night, Winedown, Madison WI*
2016    Fat City Emporium’s Inaugural First Friday Show, Winedown, Madison WI*
2016    Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Spring Gallery Night, Madison WI*
2015    Solo Exhibition, Knupp & Watson & Wallman Advertising, Madison WI
2015    Biting the Silver Tongue, Mother Fool’s Coffee House, Madison WI
2015    NAMI Wisconsin’s 9th Annual Healing Art Show, VSA Gallery, Madison WI* 
                Finalist: Best in Show
2015    Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Gallery Night, VSA Gallery,   Madison WI*
2015    100Arts depART: Laika Boss, Madison WI*
2013    RAW: Encompass, High Noon Saloon, Madison WI*
2013    Solo Exhibition, Electric Earth, Madison WI

COMMISSIONS, VIDEOS, AND PERMANENT INSTALLATIONS
2019   Hawks Quindel Law Firm, Madison WI
               Corporate Art Commission and Permanent Installation
2018   Sunseed Research LLC, Madison WI
               Permanent Installation
2018   Verona Vision Care, Verona WI
               Corporate Art Commission and  Permanent Installation
2018   Lakeside Street Coffee House, Madison WI
               Permanent Installation
2018   Dane County Credit Union, Madison WI
               Corporate Art Commission and Permanent Installation
2018   "I Love You, I Steal Your Gas" Music Video by Mark Mallman and Dick Valentine
               Live Painting Performance
2017   Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, Green Bay WI
               Public Art Commission and Permanent Installation
2016   Validic, Durham, NC
               Corporate Art Commission and Permanent Installation
2015   Blue Gem Tattooing, Green Bay WI
               Permanent Installation
​
​EDUCATION
University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, BA, Studio and 2-Dimensional Art Emphasis, 2008
LIVE PAINTING PERFORMANCES

2020     LiveStream Painting, Instagram Live
2020    Fitch-Rona Art Crawl, Quivey's Grove, Fitchburg WI
2019    Compression Book Release and Rock + Roll Show, High Noon, Madison WI
2019    Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Gallery Night, HotelRed, Madison WI
2019    Live Painting, Malt House Tavern, Madison WI
​2019    Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Spring Gallery Night, Madison WI
2019    Fitch-Rona Art Crawl, Quivey's Grove, Fitchburg WI
2019   14th Anniversary Special Event, Bliss Flow Yoga, Madison WI
2018    Live From The Nest - The Daily Cardinal, UW Madison Campus, WI
2018    4th of July Special Event, Memorial Union Terrace, Madison WI
2018    Live Painting, Malt House, Madison WI
2018    Private Wedding, Milwaukee WI
2018    DCCU's 84th Annual Meeting, Dane County Credit Union, Madison WI
2018    Art Asana, Bliss Flow Yoga, Madison WI
2018    Fitch-Rona Art Crawl, Verona Vision Care, Verona WI
2018    Fitch-Rona Art Crawl, Hop Haus Brewing, Verona WI
2017    Live Painting, Malt House, Madison WI
2017    Private Wedding, Wausau WI
2017    Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Fall Gallery Night, Madison WI
2017    Private Fundraiser, Chicago IL
2016    Dead and Buried, Fat City Emporium, Madison WI
2016    Homemade for the Holidays, Winedown, Madison WI
2016    Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Fall Gallery Night, Madison WI
2016    This Is Our City by Hive, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison WI
2016    Majestic Theater 8th Annual SummerJam, Session 5, Madison WI
2016    Majestic Theater 8th Annual SummerJam, Session 4, Madison WI
2016    Majestic Theater 8th Annual SummerJam, Session 3, Madison WI
2016    Majestic Theater 8th Annual SummerJam, Session 2, Madison WI
2016    Marquette-Atwood Art Walk, Lauer Realty Group, Madison WI
2016    Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Spring Gallery Night, Madison WI
2015    Private Fundraiser, Milwaukee WI
2015    Women Empowering Women Fundraiser, WE International, Madison WI
2015    Private Wedding, Lake Windsor Golf Club, Windsor WI
2015    Majestic Theater 7th Annual SummerJam, Session 4, Madison WI
2015    Majestic Theater 7th Annual SummerJam, Session 3, Madison WI
2015    Majestic Theater 7th Annual SummerJam, Session 1, Madison WI

PRESS & LINKS
2021    Exclusive: University Drive Streams New Lyric Video For 'Carry It", Michael Lello, Highway 81 Revisited, Dec. 2021
2019    Catherine Capellaro, "Hanna Bruer's Grunge Art," Isthmus, Nov 7, Vol 44, Iss 45, p4
2018    NAMI Wisconsin's 12th Annual Healing Art Show, short bio, Madison WI, Oct, p 14.
2017    Lindsay Christians, "The Art of the Sale," Cap Times, Oct 18.
2015    NAMI Wisconsin’s 9th Annual Healing Art Show, short bio, Madison WI, Dec, p 13. 
2015    Laura Jones, “The Art of Healing,” Isthmus, October 2, Volume 40, #39. p 32.
2015    Amy Carlson, Television Interview, NBC15 WMTV, Madison WI, Sept 9.
2013    Jason Ocker, “Text, Trinkets, and Tape” Project Famous Magazine. p 58-59.
2013    RAW: Natural Born Artists, Video Interview, Madison WI, Oct 17.       
Picture
EXCLUSIVE: UNIVERSITY DRIVE STREAMS NEW LYRIC VIDEO FOR ‘CARRY IT’
Highway 81 Revisited
INTERVIEWS, MEDIA
 Michael Lello
 10:50 am December 10, 2021

​“Carry It,” the new track from University Drive, is a dark journey with dark, pointed lyrics like “When I was dead you were deaf ears.” With a lyric video that debuts exclusively below, it’s part of the group’s currently untitled third album. Like 2019’s “Clear,” its a deeply personal effort.
“The record basically picks up where the last one left off,” says Ed Cuozzo, who sings, write songs and plays multiple instruments for the Northeastern Pa. band. “It’s more so about the aftermath of going through something insane, like grief and watching families struggle. ‘Carry It,’ that song especially, that’s a heavy, heavy song, kind of some heavy family stuff going on at the moment.”

The lyrics, in the second person, appear to be addressing a particular person, but Cuozzo says it’s not that straightforward.
“There definitely is a person, but there’s a part of the lyrics that are tied up in the naivete of youth, especially in the second verse or first verse, like waiting for someone to tell you everything is going to be OK and realizing that that person isn’t there. … The song is kind of all over the place, but there’s a specific person I’m pointing the finger at for sure. And there’s a lot of parts where I’m pointing inward.”

The band wrote “Clear” together when “all of us were going through crises at the time,” and that was the plan for the upcoming album until COVID hit “and turned everything upside-down,” Cuozzo says.

“At the time, I was laid off from work,” he says. “I had just kind of put together a decent demo studio — a decent laptop with decent speakers and a good interface. I mad a ton of demos on my own. We were all kind of really nervous about getting together in the beginning. I would program drums, delete them and take that audio track and bring it to the studio, and Steve [Martin] would track drums to it, or depending, on some songs I would track drums to it. Some songs I was really focused on and knew exactly what I wanted. Two or three, I kind of played everything on them, not out of ego but more out of time [constraints].”

University Drive recorded the new songs with Paul Smith at his Eight Days a Week Studio in Northumberland. Cuozzo’s bandmate Martin has known and worked with Smith, the bass player for The Badlees, for years.

“What had happened was we did ‘Clear,’ then we did the tour, and we came back and I guess [Martin] and Paul were starting to talk a little more and sharing gear,” Cuozzo recalls. “Me, Paul and Steve had a drink and went to a diner and talked about maybe doing something together. The first thing I hit on with Paul is he and I were both huge Weezer fans. I really wanted to make a record that’s not like the Foo Fighters’ ‘The Colour and the Shape,’ but in the vein of the big rock record. He kept referencing we should shoot for like [Soundgarden’s] ‘Superunknown,’ that should be the level. Yeah, fuck yeah, that’s the level! We just hit it off 110%.”
University Drive has done several tours with heavy alternative rock band Cold and recently played the last two shows of the band’s tour at the Gin Mill in Northampton and the River Street Jazz Cafe in Plains.

“Their fan base is really kind, [and] a couple people reached out and said we liked you guys. But after these two shows, all of a sudden a decent part of their fan base just kind of came our way and we have a little community with those people.”

That connection led to University Drive meeting Madison, Wisconsin, visual artist Hanna Bruer at a show in Indianapolis. She ended up doing the lyric video for “Carry It”.

“She just has amazing, amazing artwork,” Cuozzo says. “She does all that by hand and writes all those letters by hand. If you look at her artwork, it’s off the chains good. It’s just one cool thing that came out of that tour. We might have her do the album artwork.”

A release date for the new album has not yet been announced.

“The idea is to basically drop a single a month,” he says. “We’re doing that with four singles. Then at the end of it do a little something that I really don’t want to say on record yet, then a possible fifth song along with the entire record.”

Tonight, University Drive will play the final show at Scranton venue Stage West along with James Barrett and Room 108.
Hanna Bruer painting by Amy StockleinPhoto by Amy Stocklein
HANNA BRUER'S GRUNGE ART
BY CATHERINE CAPELLARO
Isthmus Madison
NOVEMBER 7, 2019

It’s the “magic hour” when the sun is setting and Hanna Bruer swipes the first layers of paint on a canvas in the lobby of HotelRed. Enormous glass windows look right onto Camp Randall, which glows in the waning sun. Perhaps inspired by the pink-orange tone of the stadium’s stone facade, she adds a layer of pink to a canvas propped up on an easel near the front door.

It’s Gallery Night, the twice-yearly event when museums, galleries and businesses throw open their doors for roving crowds of art lovers. HotelRed’s hip red and gray interior has high ceilings and cement floors, and when Bruer starts to paint, it’s nearly deserted. But Bruer is relaxed and taking her time. She plans to take the whole evening, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., to create her painting.

Finished canvases are set up in a semicircle around her and drop cloths lie on the floor around her easel. Her finished acrylic-ink paintings are abstract, and layered with dynamic swipes and drips of color and elegant, illegible cursive writing. They radiate life.

“I use my paintings kind of as a journal that no one gets to read except for me,” says Bruer, standing with one foot on the foot of the easel, one tattooed arm reaching up to grasp the top of the painting. “I can write legibly; I just choose not to.”
For the last five years, Bruer has been taking what is typically a private pursuit, into public spaces for “live painting” events. Mostly, she has painted at music clubs while bands play. She discovered this mode of working after seeing an ad for a live painter for a show at the Majestic. “I was like, ‘What is that? That doesn’t even sound decent,’” remembers Bruer. “That’s something that you do in the privacy of your own home. It’s a very personal thing. But I put my name in, and said I would do it.”

She did it five times that summer. “And now I’ve done it 8 million times...well, not quite,” says Bruer. “It’s a way to be interactive and entertained while you’re doing the thing that’s very vulnerable, because it’s your art.”

Bruer is deliberate, stepping back and assessing the work-in-progress before smearing most of it away and stopping to chat with visitors and her husband, Jake Swenson, who sits nearby.

Live painting has transformed her relationship to her art, says Bruer. “I’ve gotten more comfortable with it. I used to be very private,” she says. “I have an art degree but I would not sell them, not show them. But I decided to just throw myself out there, and started doing live painting, which was very uncharacteristic for me. It just kind of changed how I feel about it. I’m very comfortable. It’s a little nerve-wracking still, but it is very freeing.”

In college at UW-Stevens Point, Bruer studied photography and “hated” painting. But seven years after she graduated, a landlord in Middleton offered her some paints left behind by a previous tenant. “And so I just had all these paints sitting in my apartment, and one night I just went for it and I kind of fell in love.”

By 7:30, the painting has more color, and some inked words. But Bruer is dissatisfied, dabbing and wiping parts that don’t feel right. “I hate it, so I paint over it,” she says, adding that she’s “in it for the long haul.”

She’s enjoying the process, too. Minus one irritant: the bland R&B piped in over the hotel’s sound system. “I’m definitely a ’90s grunge person,” says Bruer. “So this is not my jam. This is piercing me right to the brain.

“What I tend to do is to listen to a whole song, over and over, through the whole painting. I’m definitely a big Nirvana fan. I’ve always loved my dark gritty rock. I’m a big Marilyn Manson fan as well…. It helps me get out all my frustrations, and it’s really visceral. I love it.”

Records Bruer usually listens to while painting: Failure: Fantastic Planet; Cold: Self Titled; Placebo: Without You I’m Nothing; Marilyn Manson: Antichrist Superstar; Nirvana: Bleach; Zao: Self Titled.
Average times she listens to the same song while creating a painting: 50
Times she has painted live at the Majestic Theater: 8
Times she has painted live at the Malt House: 9
Pairs of “painty pants” she owns: 6
Colors her hands are after Hotel Red work: 5
Paintbrushes she uses in her paintings: 0
Rolls of blue shop towels purchased this year: 14
Price of the painting created at Hotel Red: $800
Next live painting event: Nov. 18, High Noon Saloon: FlowPoetry’s Compression book release and rock and roll show.
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