ARTIST INFO

Katie Hudnall
Madison, WI

WOOD | Sculptural painted wooden objects

Penland Affiliation | Penland Instructor 2014, 2023

Artist Information | Studio artist; education: MFA Virginia Commonwealth University (VA), BFA Corcoran College of Art and Design (DC); teaching: University of Wisconsin, Madison (WI), Herron School of Art and Design (IN), Murray State University (KY), Virginia Commonwealth University (VA), Port Townsend School of Woodworking (WA), Anderson Ranch Art Center (CO), Haystack Mountain School of Craft (ME), Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (TN); exhibitions: University of Michigan (MI), Kohler Art Center (WI), Abel Contemporary Gallery (WI), Contemporary Craft (PA, Center for Art in Wood (PA), Appalachian Center for Craft (TN), Gordon Art Gallery (VA), Art Lofts Gallery (WI), Storage Space Gallery (IN), Melvin Peterson Gallery (IN), South Bend Museum of Art (IN), Indianapolis Art Center (IN), Messler Gallery (ME), Manifest Gallery (OH), Schaefer International Gallery (HI); residencies: Center for Art in Wood (PA), World Wood Day (Graz, Austria), Emma Lake Artist Collaborative (Saskatchewan, Canada), Anderson Ranch Art Center (CO),

Artist Statement | Building larger furniture and furniture-like objects from small, rough, discarded bits of wood, I sketch pieces together. There’s intensity and an odd sense of worth in something that has been cobbled together from smaller parts. I don’t hide the connections, and I leave traces of attempts and failures to make something work—an odd map of the logic and processes used to assemble the piece.
These pieces are often fragile-looking, precariously balanced on spindly legs or bases that rock. Each performs some odd function, opening the door on one opens the umbrella-like structure sprouting from the top of another. The system of pulleys and rope that makes the action possible is as cobbled together as the piece itself, and seems destined to fail, as the whole thing seems destined to collapse. They are metaphors for our relationships with one another. The imperfect edge of one piece fitting perfectly against the imperfect edge of another, pieces whose function suggest protection but offer no real security, and everything seemingly on the verge of collapse, but never quite collapsing. I am tapping into the delight that comes from seeing something work that shouldn’t, the hope that comes from a thing endlessly repaired, no matter how many times it has broken, and the beauty in something textured with imperfections and then worn smooth through use.