Bio

Hannah Pierce

Hannah Pierce is a ceramic and mixed-media artist based in San Marcos, CA. She is the Assistant Professor of Fine Art in Ceramics and 3-D Design at San Diego Miramar College. She received her MFA in Ceramics from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and her BA in Studio Art at Humboldt State University in California. Hannah has exhibited her work in numerous galleries and museums, including The Clay Studio PHL, John Natsoulas Gallery, La Luz de Jesus, Atta Gallery (Thailand), the American Museum of Ceramic Art, the Erie Art Museum, the Canton Museum of Art, the Gyeonggi Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art (South Korea), the Chula Museum (Thailand), and the Bernardaud Foundation (France); As well as art fairs/conferences such as Aqua Arts Miami, Superfine! Arts Fair DC, and NCECA (2016-23). She was a Resident Artist at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts as a Kiln God Award Recipient (2017), a Resident Artist at Baltimore Clayworks as the Abilities Fellowship Artist (2018-2019), and a Summer Resident at Studio 740 (2023). Hannah has been featured numerous times in Ceramics Now and Ceramics Monthly, including an article featuring Ceramics Monthly’s 2021 Emerging Artists. 

Statement

My work consists of surreal, narrative sculptures, portraying bizarre characters and an abundance of visual metaphors. Within my playful, figurative configurations, I utilize deceptive, illustrative qualities and exaggerative forms to distort the viewer’s perspective and enhance the theatrical nature of these narrative works. The distortions create an absurd, disorienting space that offers the viewer a bodily, other-worldly experience. Within all my sculptures, the figures are visually separate from their surroundings in their illustrative, 2-dimensional format. This separation personifies an underlying tension and a sense of estrangement that many of us in our society can relate to. 

Within my work, intrusive thoughts and dark visual metaphors are overshadowed by glimmers of temptations, tantalizing colors, and cute faces. My work explores coping mechanisms, escapism, addictions, and fixations, exaggerating our constant hunger for temporary satisfaction regardless of the consequences. I draw attention to untamed, childlike qualities when pertaining to concepts of excess, lack of self-control, and escapism. Being heavily influenced by Pop Surrealism, I sarcastically pair dismal concepts with pleasurable pops of color, playful perspectives, and figurative distortion. ​Within these works, I can bring a sense of humor and absurdity to some of the darker, more challenging aspects of being human in unstable, perpetually changing environments.