Hanna Vogel is an artist and educator in Philadelphia, PA. She grew up in rural Northern California and received a BFA from the California College of the Arts and an MFA from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally, including at The National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute, The Hunterdon Art Museum, The Spartanburg Art Museum, The Delaware Contemporary, and multiple colleges and universities in the United States. Since 2017, her work has been the subject of 13 solo exhibitions. She has participated in residencies at Yaddo, I-Park, Furman University, Sculpture Space, The Kunstlerdorf Schoppingen Foundation, and the Westport Land Trust. Her fellowships/grants include those from the California College of the Arts, the Lighton International Artist Exchange Program, Fleisher Art Memorial, Fiber Art Now, and Philadelphia Sculptors among others. She lives with her husband, daughter, and adorable tiny mutt, Wingnut.
Artist Statement
I create imaginary landscapes and growths to investigate the effects of entropy on our environments. I transform the commonplace materials of paper, wire, and household textiles into unfamiliar forms and textures that evoke growth, decay, and the tenuousness of our surroundings. Through the vernacular of craft, my work addresses aspects of physical existence on the edge of potential collapse. The materials’ physical and connotative properties speak of the possibility of their demise - a wrinkled, skin-like coating of paper is stained by its rusting steel skeleton, while shredded domestic textiles reference their origins without retaining their original functionality.
Along with these materials, the scale and visual delicacy of my work allude to spatial and physical considerations of human bodies. These sculptures are at least as large as an average adult’s torso, giving them a weighty presence that contrasts with their skeletal construction, with relatively little material defining their volume. Their forms reference new life and growth, like children’s swing sets, clusters of fish eggs, clumps of rapidly dividing cells, and larger-than-life microscopic fungi, while the decay implied by their surface textures questions their own long-term viability. By both displaying and protecting their vulnerabilities, these objects underscore the precarity of embodied existence. In doing so, they aim to cultivate empathy for the physical world around us and for our own impermanent selves.