Steve Hansen

b. 1962, Hutchinson, Minnesota

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Midwestern Museum of American Art, Elkhart, IN

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2006       SOFA Chicago, Function + Art Gallery, Chicago, IL
2005       Michiana Annual Art Competition, Box Factory for the Arts, St. Joseph, MI
        Earthly Treasures: Annual Holiday Invitational, Pewabic Pottery, Detroit, MI
2004       5x30, Akar Gallery, Iowa City, Iowa
        Steeped in Tradition, Ariana Gallery, Royal Oak, MI
2003       Regional Juried Art Competition, Purchase Award, Midwestern Museum
            of American Art, Elkhart, IN
        MAAC Regional Juried Art Exhibition, "Best Ceramics" Award,
            Box Factory for the Arts, St. Joseph, MI
2002       Solo Exhibition, Akar Gallery, Iowa City, IA
        American Kitsch Refigured, Solo Exhibition, Carnegie Center for the Arts,
            Three Rivers, MI
        Wood-Fire Invitational, Goshen Clay Artists Guild, Goshen, IN
2001       Wood-Fired: An American Iconography, Andrews University Art Center
            Gallery, Berrien Springs, MI
        Clay & Glass, Atrium Gallery, Corning Community College, Corning, NY
        Regional Juried Art Competition, Award, Carnegie Center for the Arts,
            Three Rivers, MI
1999-05, 07   Hot Tea!, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1999       Sydney Meyer Fund International Ceramics Award Exhibition, Shepparton,
            Australia
        Scorched Earth, Bannister Gallery, Rhode Island College, Providence, RI
        Raku and Wood-Fired Works, Krasl Art Center, St. Joseph, MI
        Regional Juried Art Exhibition, Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart, IN
        Solo Exhibition, Lakeside Studios, Lakeside, MI
1998       Solo Exhibition, Carnegie Center for the Arts, Three Rivers MI
1997       Annual Juried Art Exhibit, John G. Blank Center for the Arts, Michigan City, IN
1997       Strictly Functional Pottery, Market House Craft Center, Ephrata, PA
        7th Annual All-Michigan All-Media, Juried Art Competition, Krasl Art
            Center, St. Joseph, MI
        Solo Exhibition, Southwestern Michigan College, Dowagiac, MI
1996-98   Regional Juried Art Competition, Carnegie Center for the Arts, Three Rivers, MI
1996       Elkhart Juried Regional Exhibition, Avatar Purchase Award Winner,
            Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart, IN
1995       All-Michigan All-Media, Juried Art Competition, Krasl Center for the Arts,
            St. Joseph, MI
1992       Solo Exhibition, Oscar Friedl Gallery, Chicago, IL

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

2006        "Up Front", Ceramics Monthly, October
2005        Christine Kloostra, "Teapots: Seven Artists Pour Forth New Creations",
            Niche Magazine, spring
        Steve Woodhead, The Teapot Book, A & C Black, UK

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

I create ceramic works that awaken trace memories of childhood experiences I had growing up in the rural Midwest. My father's side of the family has for generations been involved with carpentry, mechanics and farming. When I was growing up, the norm was to make what you needed whenever possible. This was true of everything from the house we lived in, to the cars we drove. I have wonderful memories of visits to my grandfather's farm in Grand Marais, Minnesota. In the barn, the horse harnesses were still hanging where they were left after the first tractor was brought in, and that first tractor was rusting on its metal wheels out back. There were endlessly fascinating ruins to be explored. Rusted license plates and wire, radiator cans and the hubcaps off a '36 Ford have, for me, the strength to evoke the smells, sounds and tastes of my own places of becoming. These are places that could spin yarns about first cars, first times and how treasures become broken. I believe that sharing with others the things that have made us who we are enlarges our understanding of what it can mean to be human. I am interested in working with imagery and processes that are true to both my nature and nurture.