Artist: Hannah Thompsett
Hannah Thompsett, NEW YORK
The forms I create are generated from folded paper. They begin as flat line drawings, which are creased and bent into three dimensions. As I fold, the tension from a singular plane of paper is broken up and transferred into volume. I start to understand what a set of information looks like as both a pattern and as a shape; how slight alterations in the drawing affect its three dimensional rendition. The same set of information is then translated from paper to ceramic through mold making and slip casting. The final object shows evidence of the original drawing and paper form, but also gains new characteristics through its own material presence.
Hannah Thompsett uses ceramics, paper, photography, and installation to explore ideas of perception and reality. She creates functional and sculptural works, which are intrinsically connected through material exploration and process. They are linked in conception, materialization, and as entity. The functional objects appear on their own or within the context of installations accompanied by other works and space constructions.
Thompsett received her BFA from the SUNY New Paltz in 2011 and her MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2016. Before graduate school, she was a two-year artist-in-residence at The Flower City Arts Center in Rochester, NY. She currently works as a Ceramic Art Technician at Alfred University and continues her studio practice in Alfred and Scio, NY.
Education:
2016 Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics, the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY
2011 Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics, the State University of New York at New Paltz, NY
Selected Exhibitions:
2022 Pottery to the People, Artstream Nomadic Gallery 21st annual exhibition, Carbondale, CO
2020 Kent State Ceramics Invitational, KSU Downtown Gallery, Kent, OH
Material Structures, Fosdick Nelson Gallery, Alfred, NY
2019 LIES, District Clay Gallery, Washington DC
Particle and Wave: Paperclay Illuminated, exhibition travelling nationally through 2021
White/Black Invitational, Firehouse Gallery at the Flower City Arts Center, Rochester, NY
2018 Out of the Mold, Carbondale Clay National XIII, Carbondale Clay Center Gallery, Carbondale, CO
22nd San Angelo National Ceramics Competition, San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, TX
Contemporary Clay Biennial, Western Colorado Center for the Arts, Grand Junction, CO
Working Pots III, James May Gallery, Algoma, WI
2017 Elusive Truths, solo show, Davis Gallery at Roberts Wesleyan College, Rochester, NY
Art in Craft Media, Burchfield Penney Art Center, East Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Southern Tier Biennial, JCC Center Gallery, Olean, NY
Off Center, Blue Line Arts Center, Coker Family Gallery, Roseville, CA
Images on Clay, Clay Arts Vegas, Las Vegas, NV
Ceramic Innovations, Wayne Arts Center, Davenport Gallery, Wayne, PA
Off the Table: Clay for the Wall, Missouri Western State University, Potter Fine Art Gallery, Saint Joseph, MO
2016 Deft Perception: Allusions of Reality, MFA thesis exhibition, Fosdick-Nelson Gallery, Alfred University, Alfred, NY
Small Works 2016, Main Street Arts Gallery, Clifton Springs, NY
Ceramic Tile 2016, Pewabic Pottery, Detroit, MI
2015 30 Under 30, Memorial Art Gallery Store, Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Upstate New York Ceramics Invitational, Main Street Arts Gallery, Clifton Springs, NY
Maker’s Studio, The Reilly Gallery at Providence College, Providence, RI
Variance: Survey of Graduate Student Work, Alfred Ceramics, The WURKS, Providence, RI
2014 Suspended Arrangements, solo show for residency exit, Firehouse Gallery at the Flower City Arts Center, Rochester, NY
2013 Potentiality, solo show, Firehouse Gallery at the Flower City Arts Center, Rochester, NY
Publications:
2017 Deft Perception: Works of Porcelain and Paper, Plausibility and Pause, Cleaver Magazine
Awards/Honors:
2018 Salon Publication Fellow, Peripheral Vision Press
2016 Thayer Fellowship, State University of New York, NY
2011 Outstanding Graduate Award in the School of Art and Design, SUNY New Paltz, NY