Hannah Pierce

Hannah Pierce is devoted to fabricating surreal, poetically expressed depictions of narratives, street scenes, and cityscapes. By juxtaposing various metaphors and visual dialogues, she expresses fears of industrialization, economic collapse, and societal dispositions. When rendering architecture, Pierce bends, twists, and warps the perspectives to represent every individual’s warped perception of reality. The seemingly thin, fragile cutouts and facades of painted figures heavily contrast with the fully sculpted, durable urban structures. The fragility of the painted figures is meant to convey the feeling of temporariness, causing the viewer to question their own impermanence.

For the past few years, Pierce has been hand-building all her pieces with a red clay body, painting with underglaze, and sometimes adding dashes of glaze and acrylic paint. She always makes sure to incorporate the rusty orange color of the clay body in every sculpture, combining natural colors with vibrant ones. Having a background in illustration, painting, and printmaking has allowed Pierce to incorporate experimental surfaces and an abundance of loaded imagery. Recently, she has been combing an array of mixed media in my ceramic work, including paper cut outs, fabric, and found objects.

Pierce is a ceramic sculptor and mixed media artist currently making artwork as a Resident Artist at Nottingham Center for the Arts in San Marcos, CA. She received her MFA in Ceramics from Edinboro University of PA and her BA in Studio Art at Humboldt State University of CA. Before graduate school, she worked as an educator for people with developmental disabilities at Canvas + Clay Studio located in Eureka California. Influenced by this experience, she has taught many ceramic classes and workshops at art centers and colleges across the country with a focus on accessibility and inclusion.

Pierce’s artwork was also exhibited at Aqua Art Miami Beach and Superfine! DC via BoxHeart Gallery. She has received numerous awards including “Best in Show” at Workhouse Clay International at Workhouse Art Center and 2nd place in the 36th Annual Made in California exhibition at Brea Gallery. She was a resident artist at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts as a Kiln God Award Recipient (2017) and a resident artist at Baltimore Clayworks as the Abilities Fellowship Artist (2018-2019). Sculptures from her solo show at Baltimore Clayworks were published in the summer issue of Ceramics Monthly and promoted by Bmore Art Magazine. She was most recently featured in the May issue of Ceramics Monthly as one of the 2021 Emerging Artists. Her most recent solo exhibition, UnSound, was exhibited by the Canton Museum of Art in Canton Ohio. She is currently working on an installation for an invitational exhibition at the Bernardaud Foundation in Limoges, France.

View Hannah's 2018 exhibit Ephemeral.