Another late-breaking event for your Bernal Heights lifestyle: Tonight, Thursday 4/4 at 7:00 pm, Inclusions Gallery on Cortland will host an artist talk with San Francisco painter April Hankins:

April Hankins’ abstract work is spontaneous, strong in color, and adventurous in mark and gesture. Her paintings evoke a distinct sense of place, tangentially referencing locale with an evolved and complex palette.

Prior to receiving her BFA from Massachusetts College of Art, April Hankins took time from studio practice to initiate and direct the Boston exhibition of Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party,” now permanently housed at the Brooklyn Museum.

For her work in the Yale School of Art MFA program, Hankins was awarded the Ely Harwood Schless Memorial Prize for excellence in painting. Subsequently, she has been twice nominated for an award in painting by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Hankins work is in the museum collections of Yale and Harvard Universities, as well as the print collection of The New York Public Library. Her paintings are in the corporate collections of Pfizer, Inc., and most recently, Host Marriott.

Invited by Le Genie de la Bastille Parisian, Hankins traveled to Paris with a selection of paintings to participate in the collective’s open studios. Upon returning she used photographs taken during her three- week visit to create abstract collages capturing the uniquely beautiful light of Paris.

Through Isha yoga Hankins has learned meditation and traveled twice to South India for intensive practice. The artist observes that meditation increases her awareness of a quiet distancing from thought and perception, in striking contrast to an isolating sense of self, adding an intrinsic dimensionality to her work.

Having lived and worked in San Francisco for over a decade, Hankins’ painting reflects Northern California’s distinctive light and color. Frequent travel provides a contrast of density and mood, further informing her work. Hankins’ process of painting accommodates an altered sense of space, and her painting has become direct, unpredictable and surprising.

If you miss the talk tonight, the show runs at Inclusions until April 28.

PHOTO: April Hankins