Holly Hanessian Workshop

Book Ends:
Discovering Text & Sculptural Ideas in Clay

Holly Hanessian will teach this three day course delving into the use of ceramic material in book making. Participants will work with Holly to investigate a variety of ideas by creating sculptural work that incorporates or becomes book parts or text.

Holly will demonstrate her approach to ceramic book-making and guide the group in beginning to work this way. Participants will learn about the tools and processes used in creating thin slab parts which can then be sewn together. The discussion will also focus on arriving at the concept for a book, in this case starting with a single word and pursuing the object created from there.

Participants will learn to create and use letterform templates, building book parts which can be perforated, textured, decaled, carved, and ultimately bound for presentation. Holly will address post-firing assembly including sewing, decorative embellishments, adding objects, mixed media, and how to think about other finishing options.

Holly will also present, for inspiration, a review of other contemporary artists who use text in their artwork.

Class size 18.

Holly Hanessian Artist Bio

Holly Hanessian is a mid-career sculptor who creates objects, site-specific installations and artist's books. Her work uses text and the book form as a way to convey meaning based on life experiences that result from both choice and chance. Hanessian's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including the Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Canada, the Ningbo Museum of Art, Ningbo, China and the Yixing Ceramic Museum of Art, Yixing, China.

In addition to her studio art practice, she is an associate professor of Art at Florida State University, where she directs the ceramics program within the Art Department. As an artist and educator, she has given lectures and workshops at over 25 different colleges and universities as well as having been featured in several magazines and books including, The Ceramic Narrative by Matthias Ostermann and 500 Ceramic Sculptures by Glen Brown.

Holly Hanessian Artist Statement

I am a ceramic sculptor who expresses my ideas through the creation of sculptural installations, artist’s books and objects. My concepts explore choice and chance interactions through genetic and DNA permutations by using recognizable images and text.  I use porcelain, plexiglass and monofilment to show fluid biological changes, translucency and use of decorative embellishments adding a sense of wonder and reflection to the artworks.

Holly Hanessian Resume

EDUCATION

MFA. University of Georgia, Athens, GA, Ceramic Sculpture, Mixed Media, 1989

TEACHING POSITION

Professor of Art, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 2006 - present

ARTIST RESIDENCIES

Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Edgecomb, ME, 1995, 2000, 2004, 2006

Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Alberta, Canada, 2002

Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, MT, 1994

The Workshop, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, 1993

Summer School of the Arts, Wanganui, New Zealand, Ceramics, 1990

Wanganui Regional Community College, Wanganui, New Zealand, Papermaking

Nelson Polytechnic, Nelson, New Zealand, Ceramics

Wairiki Polytechnic, Rotorua, New Zealand, Papermaking Hawkes Bay Polytechnic, Taradale, New Zealand, Papermaking

Artpark, Lewiston, NY, Papermaking 1992, Ceramics, 1990

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
* Upcoming

*Reflected Stories: Luck & Fortune, The Yingge Ceramics Museum in Taipei, Taiwan. 2010

*Reflected Stories: Luck & Fortune, The Pottery Workshop, Shanghai, China. 2010

Accidents Advance Most of Our Lives, Golden Belt, Durham, NC 2009

Poetry of Space, Southwest Center for Craft and Art, San Antonio, TX 2008

Fortuity!, The Ningbo Museum of Art, Ningbo, China, 2007

Text / TEXTure Appalachian Center for the Crafts, Smithville, TN

Xx Y and Evermore, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA

Evermore, Holland Art Center, Holland, MI, 2005

New Work, The Other Gallery, Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Canada, 2002

Games of Chance, Andrews University, MI, 2002

Transitory Parts, Blue Pony Gallery, Charlotte, NC, 2001

An Open Book, , University of Massachusetts, University Art Gallery, Lowell, MA, 2000

Books and other Memorabilia, Duke University, Institute of the Arts, Durham, NC, 1999

An Open Book, Valencia Community College, East Gallery, Orlando, FL 1997

Ephemera, Sommerhill Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC, 1996

Household Artifacts, Modern Museum, Durham, NC, 1995

Anima, Virginia Intermont College, Bristol VA, 1995

Voices in my House, Artemisia Gallery, Chicago, IL, 1991

Dark Illuminations, Peninsula Fine Art Center, Newport News, VA, 1990

A Thicket Briars, Courtyard Gallery, Visual Arts Building, Athens, GA, 1990

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Hard Copy: Book as Sculpture, National Museum of Women in Art, Washington DC, 2009

Inaugural Exhibition, Florida Museum of Women's Art, Deland, FL, 2009

Installation: Four Artists, Four Perspectives, Bentley Projects, Phoenix, AZ, 2009

Contemporary Text, Scottsdale, AZ, 2009

NCECA: Global Positioning / China, Jingdezshen, China, 2008

Splendid, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, 2008

Texting: Print and Clay, Pewabic Pottery, Detroit, MI,

Full and Spare, Museum of Fine Arts, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL

All Synthetic or All Natural, Lux Center for the Arts, Lincoln, NE

Book in Hand, ALL Gallery, New Haven, CT, 2007

Three Person Show, 621 Gallery, Tallahassee, FL, 2006

16th Annual San Angelo National Ceramic Competition, San Angelo Museum of Fine Art, San Angelo, TX, 2006

First Biennial Concordia Continental Ceramics Competition, Concordia University-Saint Paul, MN, 2006

The Intensive Spirit, Juried International Exhibition, Steamboat Springs, CO, 2005

Contemporary Codex: Ceramics and the Book, University of Maryland

Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, Pyramid Atlantic Art Gallery, Silver Springs, MD, 2005

On the Wall, Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, IN, 2005

Invitational Sculpture Exhibition, Crooked Tree Arts Center, Petoskey, MI

Michigan Ceramics Invitational, Saginaw Art Museum, Saginaw, MI

Contemporary Codex: Ceramics and the Book, University Art Gallery,

CMU, Mt. Pleasant, MI, Manchester Craftsman Guild, Pittsburgh, PA,

Ceramics USA 2003, The University of North Texas Art Gallery, Denton TX

Verses, Volumes and Visions, Art and the Written Word, Northbrook Library, Northbrook IL

The Word Made Clay, Ceramic in it Own Write, Tile Heritage Foundation, La Jolla, CA

A Readers Art, Lansing Art Gallery, E. Lansing, MI

Earth in Balance, Rosewood Gallery, Kettering, OH, 2002

A Readers Art, The Art Apartment, E. Lansing, MI

Artists Books, Milliken Gallery, Converse College, Spartanburg, SC 2001

From Foundation to Ornamentation, Lancaster Museum of Art, Lancaster, PA

2000

Michigan Ceramics 2000, Juried Traveling Exhibition, Ella Sharp Museum, Jackson,

MI, Painted Creek Center for the Arts, Troy, MI

Alida to Zack, Penland Gallery, Penland, NC, 1999

From Foundation to Ornamentation, ARC Gallery, Chicago, I, 1998

Southeastern Fine Craft Biennial II, Gulf Coast Art Center, Belleair, FL 1997

Ten Years of Fire, Joanne Rapp Gallery, The Hand and the Spirit, Scottsdale, AZ, 1996

Spotlight'96, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, KY

Crafts National 29, Penn State University, University Park, PA, 1995

Archie Bray Residents Show, Holter Art Museum, Helena, MT, 1994

Farrell Collection Spring Show, Washington D.C.

Pandora's Box Invitational Show, The Hand Workshop, Richmond, VA

Fletcher Challenge Ceramics Award, Auckland, N.Z., 1993

The Edifice Complex: Structures in Clay, Northern Clay Center, St. Paul, MN, 1992

Ceramics Invitational, Virginia Wesleyan College, Norfolk, VA

A Deep South Fish Fry, Crealde Art Center, Winter Park, FL

Mostra, Palazzo Vagnotti, Cortona, Italy, 1988

LaGrange National Exhibition, Lamar Dodd Center, LaGrange, GA

Small Wonders Invitational, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen CO, 1986

Penland Experience, Traveling Exhibition: Waterworks Gallery, Salisbury, NC,

Gaston County Museum of Art, Dallas, NC Sawtooth Gallery, Winston-Salem, NC

North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

COLLECTIONS

Jingdezhen Ceramics Institute, Jingdezhen, China

Ningbo Museum of Art, Ningbo, China

The Yixing Ceramics Museum, Yixing, China

Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, MT

The Meyerhoff Collection, Baltimore, MD

The Tile Project, Destination: The World, TransCultural Exchange, Chang Hai

International in Beijing, China

The Tile Project, Destination: The World, TransCultural Exchange, Kanoria Centre for the Arts, K.L. Campus, University Road, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad 380009 India

PUBLICATIONS

Magazines:

Hanessian, Holly " On Text and Clay ", Studio Potter, Volume 35, Number 2, Summer/Fall 2007

Hopfensperger, Marie, Fate, Luck, Chance and Choice, Ceramics Art and Perception, p.96-97Fall 2005 Issue: 60

Morton, Julia, "Collage Ceramics", The Art of Holly Hanessian, Ceramics Art and Perception, September 2000

Ariail, Kate Dobbs. "Holly Hanessian" Ceramics Monthly: March 1996

Catalogues:

Full and Spare, Museum of Fine Arts, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL

16th Annual San Angelo National Ceramic Competition, San Angelo Museum of Fine Art, San Angelo, TX, 2006

International Juried Teapot Exhibition, Yixing, China 2005

Contemporary Codex: Ceramics and the Book, University Art Gallery, Central Michigan University, 2004

NCECA 2006 Invitational, The New Utilitarian: Examining our Place on the Motherboard of

Ceramics, The Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR, 2006

Books:

Brown, Glenn, "500 Sculptures", Lark Press, 2009

Cyr, Gabe, "The Altered Book", Lark Press, 2006

Ostermann, Matthias " The Ceramic Narrative" University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006

Burleson, Mark, "The Ceramic Glaze Handbook", Lark Press, May 2001

Acero, Raul, "Making Ceramic Sculpture", Lark Press 2000

Hessenberg, Karin, "Ceramics for Gardens and Landscapes" Pages 71,74,140,158 A & C Black Press, 2000