ARTIST INFO

ANDREW HAYES
Asheville, NC

METALS | Sculpture

Penland Affiliation | Penland Resident Artist 2014-2017, Penland Core Fellow 2007-2009, Penland Instructor 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022

Artist Info | Studio artist; teaching: Haystack (ME), Anderson Ranch (CO), Penland; collections: Yale Art Museum (CT), Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Metal Museum (TN); representation: JHB Gallery (NYC), Seager Gray Gallery (CA), Blue Spiral 1 (NC)

Artist Bio | Andrew Hayes grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and studied sculpture at Northern Arizona University. The desert landscape inspired much of his early sculptural work and allowed him to cultivate his style in fabricated steel. After leaving school, Andrew worked in the industrial welding trade. While living in Portland, Oregon, bouncing between welding jobs and creating his own work he was invited to the EMMA Collaboration residency in Canada. This one-week experience was liberating for Andrew and he was encouraged by his fellow collaborators to apply to the Core Fellowship at Penland School of Crafts. During his time as a Core Fellow, Andrew was able to explore a variety of materials and techniques. Surprisingly, the book became a big part of this exploration. In this work, he faces the challenge of marrying the rigid qualities of metal with the delicacy of the book page.

Artist Statement | The book is a seductive object to hold and smell and run your fingers through. I am drawn to books for many reasons; however, the content of the book does not enter my work. The pages allow me to achieve a form, surface, and texture that are appealing to me. The book as an object is full of fact and story. I take my sensory appreciation for the book as a material and employ the use of metal to create a new form, and hopefully a new story.