Amy Hoagland

Name of School
University of Colorado Boulder

Expected Graduation Date:
05/05/2022

Faculty Nominator
Richard Saxton

Reason for Faculty Nomination
Amy is one of the best graduate students I’ve taught at CU-Boulder over 14 years. She is an exceptional student and artist that’s creating important work. Amy is crossing disciplinary boundaries, pushing materials and forms into new ways of seeing and creating new conversations about the value of the environment that couldn’t be more relevant today. Amy focuses her work on the intersection of humans and the surrounding land. She merges research, photography, video and personal gestures with the environment to create large spatial installations. Amy was recently accepted to the Arctic Circle Residency, a challenging and dedicated experience for an emerging artist. She has been creating new powerful imagery through digitally scanning glaciers and layering earthborn materials such as iron, paper and glass. Her work provokes deep thought and connects people through senses, mind and body.

Please provide a brief description of your art or medium.
Craft objects made from recycled and local materials that connect to the surrounding local landscape

Is your artwork handmade by you? If not, please explain
Yes it is handmade

Are all or some of the components locally sourced?
Cardboard- recycled from local furniture company
Mirrors- sourced from used mirrors
Copper rod- sourced from local welding store in Denver
Glass- sourced from local glass store in Denver

Artist’s Statement:
My art embraces the entanglement that humans have with their more-than-human surroundings. These works challenge the varying relationships that humans have with nature, particularly the perception that nature is outside of human society. I am interested in the hierarchies we set as humans and investigate these boundaries to understand why they have come into existence. With a greater understanding of our position within nature, an empathetic link can be formed. Empathy is not only needed but is crucial in this time of a landscape demanding human change.

The Synthetic Erosion series blur the distinction between what is considered to be stereotypically natural and human-made. Recycled materials are used such as bathroom mirrors and cardboard. Reflections On The Future was created in response a local forest fire. It’s a site-specific memorial to the trees lost in the 2020 CalWood Fire.

How you will use the Fellowship funds if you are chosen as the winner.
The Fellowship will allow continued artistic research around the imminent topic of climate change. I will continue my practice of investigating the human interconnectedness with the landscape. As glaciers worldwide are losing 267 billion tons of ice per year, a new body of work will be created in response to this massive loss. Combining new technologies alongside craft processes, I will travel to the Arctic and create 3D scans of the melting glaciers. With this 3D scan data, I will work with recycled materials, such as sheet glass and cardboard, to reinterpret these fleeting forms. This new body of work will relate to the human imprint on the loss of ice. This work will be presented in a traveling solo exhibition to spread awareness of these fleeting forms.