Dena Hawes

Dena Hawes is a multi-media artist who resides in Bloomington, IN. She has taught new genre/sculpture and contemporary art issues at the university level for five years. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally since 1994. She has worked for nonprofits, international non-governmental agencies and universities for over 25 years.

Dena earned a Bachelor's degree from Indiana University, a Master of Fine Arts degree from University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Masters and Doctoral degree from the James and Rosalyn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University. From 2001-02 she was a Professional Development Fellow with the Institute for International Education doing Conflict Resolution and Security research in the Republic of Georgia.

Dena is a visual and performance artist, a world record holder, and the author of a book entitled Why Art Matters: Artists and Peacebuilding, Omniscriptum Publishing Group, 2009, a book chapter entitled "Suzanne Lacy: Oakland Projects", Artistic Bedfellows: Histories and Conversations in Collaborative Art Practice, Eds Holly Crawford, Rowman & Littlefield, 2008, and has also published several journal articles and poetry.

Artist’s Statement: “My artwork falls in between jewelry and sculpture – three dimensional objects that could be worn as “body art”, hung on a wall, or draped over a table or another object. I think of my artwork as an “intimate immensity” – small scale, evocative, and emotionally powerful.

My point of departure is a kind of psycho-geographic mapping experience – I create objects that are based on psychological issues such as perception, memory, and judgment, while also considering site-specificity, inside/outside space, intimate/exposed space, private/public space. I often combine objects found in nature (mostly stones, wood and feathers) with fabric and metal. The sterling silver, brass, and copper shapes such as rings and wraps are like adornment.

I am fascinated by the intersection of architectural forms and natural objects. Scale is determined by the relationship of the object to the human body or a specific interior space, influencing size, proportion, verticality, horizontality, mass, volume and light.”