Hannah Niswonger Ceramics

Artist Profile:

Hannah holds an MFA in ceramic sculpture from Alfred University and a BA from Wesleyan University. She has taught ceramics at numerous colleges, including MassArt and Harvard University. Her recent work builds on a lifelong passion for the natural world, incorporating careful studies of flora and fauna into pottery and sculpture. She has over three decades of experience exhibiting nationally in galleries and juried craft shows, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art Show, Smithsonian Craft Show and CraftBoston, where she received the Award of Distinction. Her work is held in permanent collections including at the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts and the Alfred Museum of Ceramic Art. She is co-founder and co-director of Pots On Wheels, POW!, a community engaged craft project. Hannah has curated numerous exhibitions, including several Featured Exhibitions at NCECA. 

Artist Statement:

I hand-build vessels and sculpture using stoneware clay. My images are painted, printed and incised on the clay. Colored glazes, underglaze stains and slips are my painting materials. After several decades making pots, I am still daily challenged by the complexity of designing beautiful, useful things. 

For inspiration in the work, I look to the writings of environmental scientists like Robin Wall Kimmerer, and the paintings of 18th century botanists, as well as satirists like Hieronymus Bosch. I’m drawn to animals as subject matter because of how they entice viewers into the work. My newest work explores natural relationships between plant and animal communities. 

Through form and imagery, I explore the complexities of life ranging from personal to global in scale. I use humor to process difficult issues: climate change; loss of habitat; our polarized political moment. Joy, playfulness and grief are threads running through my work.