Lucy Congdon Hanson - Biography

I’m interested in art as an interpretation of experience, not a literal transposing of reality. I believe that art has the ability to move us, to stretch our understandings and to enrich our lives aesthetically, emotionally and mentally. In essence, art makes us think and feel. I’m lucky that my art functions as an autobiography of my life: reflecting past concerns and charting new territories.

Currently I work in both sculpture and painting, as I believe these two very different kinds of art inform each other from opposite sides. I construct my landscape paintings with layer upon layer of oily texture, shape and color; whereas a sculpture once imagined, must be deconstructed in my mind before I can begin to build it. Regarding my sculpture, I try to create animation, tension and a sense of potential movement. My sculptural works range in size from life-size to tabletop dimensions and are made from a variety of materials including wood and steel, bronze, copper, aluminum or clay. Some are outdoor work, others specifically indoor and some kinetic. All of them are contemporary in style and usually abstract.

Having grown up in Colorado I moved to Port Townsend, Washington where I continue to work as a contemporary artist and live with my husband and two daughters. I received my Masters Degree in Sculpture from the California College of the Arts in Oakland in 1995. I received an exclusive grant from the Rocky Mountain Women’s Institute, placement in exclusive painting seminars and have participated in numerous invitational shows along with many solo and group shows over the past 15 years of my career. I have also taught art in various environs.

My past artistic endeavors include working as a scenic artist for theater, opera and cinema, and after that as an installation artist creating among shows America Under the Knife: a room of giant kitchen utensils, the knife itself was 22 feet long. I love the fact that art is limited only by what you can imagine.

The art era that has had the greatest collective influence on my creative development is art from the mid 20th century. I appreciate Alexander Calder for his humor: his Circus possibly one of the most accomplished works ever in my opinion. Louise Bourgeois and Eva Hesse I thank for their sensuous and organic approach to industrial materials. And for the sheer power of Minimalism I look to Robert Motherwell and Richard Serra.