A life set in SCULPTURE

Suzie Harrison

Having grown up in the projects of Vancouver, Wash. with her mother

and four older sisters, sculptor JD Hansen said that her view on life

was shaped early. This summer Hansen is exhibiting in the Festival of

Arts.

“I knew it would take a lot of hard work to get out of there,”

Hansen said.

She started working when she was 13-years-old at the parks and

recreation department for the city of Vancouver, a special program

for people who needed state assistance.

“I worked early to help support my family that way, later at 17, I

ended up in a factory,” Hansen said. “At 18, I moved to California to

Laguna Beach.”

She started working in Los Angeles doing menial jobs, saving for

school. She didn’t have a high school education because she had been

working full time. She saved enough money to attend Saddleback

College and through her college education she earned a bachelor’s

degree at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1994.

“At the Art Center in Pasadena, I worked under some great

masters,” Hansen said. “Harry Carmean and Burne Hogarth where all

about the figure, anatomy, form, gestures -- everything there was to

know about the figure. I spent the first year intensely learning

about the figure.”

After she graduated, Hansen got side tracked, as she put it, and

worked in graphic design in Hollywood for five years. Though they

weren’t unfruitful, she earned a CLIO Award in 1997 and nine

Hollywood Reporter Key Art Awards from 1996 to 1999.

Three years ago Hansen decided to stop working, she moved to San

Juan Capistrano and committed herself full time to sculpting. It was

when she made this determination that she found her voice as a

sculptor.

“My first and second year my voice and style developed, letting

whatever come out,” Hansen said. “It came out while I was exploring

my voice as a sculptor.”

During her intense study and examination, she ended up with the

body of work that’s on exhibit, all created within the last year.

The physical process involves starting with a metal armature, a

skeletal structure. Hansen uses oil based clay and begins from the

inside out and keeps building until it is just right she said.

“It is always very well thought out before starting,” Hansen said.

“I do a lot of writing about a concept of a piece, I tend not to

sketch out the ideas because they take on a life of their own in 2D

instead of 3D.”

The inspiration for her current group of work entitled “Memoir” is

her childhood years in the projects.

“There, my mother, four older sisters and I struggled to survive,

an experience common to many American families,” Hansen said. “The

sculptures are about self-reliance, independence and family bonding.”

Her piece titled “Girl Icarus” has meaning on several different

levels. It is about her move to California, going out on her own into

a new, unknown world full of possibilities.

“I realized I might not have the proper equipment for where I want

to go, growing up the way I did.”

She wasn’t sure she was given the right tools to step forward in

life and felt she had to make it up as she went along. Most people

growing up have someone there, showing them the way she said.

“It gives me a lot to draw from, a lot of experiences that have

shaped me to who I am today,” Hansen said. “I want to share that.”

Her artwork, as she explained, incorporates the fundamental skills

of traditional figurative sculpture in combination with abstract

gesture, pose and nuances.

“My style -- let’s call it abstract fundamentalism,” Hansen said.

“As a classically trained sculptor, I attempt to depict the human

condition by altering the perspective, shape, texture and context of

the figure.”

“Those Jeffries Girls,” is a piece about the family dynamic of

Hansen and her sisters.

“Each sibling has [a] personality, which is reflected in this

piece,” Hansen said. “One is aggressive, she’s out in front. Everyone

is pulling on one another, we’re all sort of connected and feeling

the movements of one another -- each of us affects the other.”

She explained that all the personalities are reflected, one is in

the shadows in the way back and the middle sister sort of held the

family together, she was sort of the peacemaker. Another sister is

disinterested and she’s looking out the other way.

“Me, I’m more physically separated from the group, I’m the baby of

the family,” Hansen said. “This is more of a today’s portrait -- they

all live up north, so physically and emotionally I tend to be a

little more separate.”

The foundation of the piece has the sisters tied together with a

string, which she said is what they sort of had to do as a family.

“We had to construct our own solid ground to stand on,” Hansen

said.

She said she thinks it is wonderful that she can put in all this

meaning in her work, but ultimately, the meaning ends when she puts

it on display -- because people put in their own interpretation.

That’s the way she feels art should be.

“Someone usually reads a memoir, the words, and creates their own

picture,” Hansen said. “I’ve reversed that, I’ve given them the

pictures and they have to provide the words.”

Hansen said she remains very close to her mother and has a very

strong family bond.

“I think it has to do with the fact that we relied on each other

through our lives,” Hansen said. “That’s when family is so important,

family bonds and friendships.”

Hansen’s work can be seen at the Festival of Arts at 650 Laguna

Canyon Road. The festival runs through Aug. 31. Laguna Beach

residents are free. For information or tickets, call 494-1145.