Marren Hassinger

Art is something that can vary from being very daring yet subtle at the same time. That's what I felt when Maren Hassinger presented to our class. In the beginning, she didn't really catch my attention. I couldn't grasp onto the ideas that she was so passionate about but then it stuck out to me. When she spoke about pink trash, I was immediately fascinated. The idea of pink trash fascinated me because there isn't as much exposure from creators with a platform when it comes to the destruction of the earth as there should be. To be able to use her passion in art and create something involving real world problems, says a lot about who she is as an artist.

Whole Cloth, 2017, Maren Hassinger

When looking at Hassinger's artwork, you have to pay attention to detail. When I did further research, I found her piece called "Whole Cloth". This consisted of Muslin strips being dyed with tea and coffee. This piece of art was made to shed light on equality. Although there are different colors being presented, they all mend together well. Proving that regardless of where and how you were brought up, we're all essentially the same. I bring this up because it is so different than her work with pink trash bags. Maren connected with the discussions we have in class for the simple reason that her artwork is different. During class, we talk about women artists who go against the norm and do the things they love. Maren doesn't need a lot of resources to create something meaningful, just like how the women we've spoken about barely had the resources to make something out of themselves but still succeeded.

Maren Hassinger

It was a privilege to have been in Maren Hassinger’s presence while displayed her art work and explained to us her motivation and passion for the world of Art. Maren Hassinger’s Art work was strange to me in the beginning, I was not sure how to interpret her pieces but that didn’t make them less interesting, in fact they captured my attention more. Her pieces made me want to feel what she was feeling and understand what she was going through while making these. Where did her ideas stem from? Are there any more underlying meanings to her work that what us shown at the surface or what she says? She says most of her ideas and art work have no true meaning except being literal, but they can be used to express so many different things. Like her piece “Love” with the pink plastic bags can but used for breast cancer awareness. Her art work can be interpreted in many different ways by the people who are exposed to it.

Maren Hassinger "Wrenching News"

            I think that’s the great thing about her work, she leaves it open for interpretation and relatability. She allows you to let her work speak to you, allowing you to emerge yourself in the concept and the story you are presented with. Hassinger’s art is influential in itself, just like different art works we see from the middle ages and renaissance, there is a focal point in all her hard work that addresses different themes socially and other informal themes. Her art work empowers women, she combats so many patriarchal customers with the women she represents and include in her work. She gives a voice in this day and age like the women artist did back in the olden times. 

Maren Hassinger "Love" and "Wrenching News"

Maren Hassinger's Artwork EC

On September 27^th, our class got the opportunity to meet with artist Maren Hassinger and this was a special experience to me because I never had an actual artist explain their work to me through a detailed presentation before. The presentation embodied not only how her work came together in terms of material and strategy but other social purposes that led her to create. The theme in her work that stuck out to me was her use of the color pink.  I really liked her sculpture “Love” which consists of  pink plastic bags with notes about love inside each bag and the entire work is inflated with breath that people release. The pink plastic bags reflect this green light onto people and Maren shared how she enjoyed the contrast between the colors green and pink.

Love, 2005 by Maren Hassinger 

     My overall reaction to her presentation was puzzling because while her artwork (including the pink plastic bags, the New York Times newspaper shredding and wire rope) seemed a bit political and socially controversial, she basically stated it didn’t have any true meaning behind it. Maren used the word “literal” to describe why her work is the way it is. Essentially, she tried to say things just “are” without any explanation because they are there, “literally” just present in the moment. I was a bit confused by her explanation because I always thought every piece of art had a purpose or an explanation behind it but after her presentation I began to wonder if there truly is a need for it. Art can just happen. Art can just be whatever it wants to be for no reason at all.

If I could encounter Maren Hassinger again I would ask if her art has a certain audience. During her presentation she showed us a picture of a group of women of color in front of her sculpture "Love" but Maren didn't really go much in depth as to why that exact group of women meant something to her and her career in art. Her art work also connects to what we have learned in class because like many female artists, she only received recognition for her work later on in her career. Maren Hassinger is also a very resourceful artist like many of the ones we reviewed throughout our lectures. 

Maren Hassinger

I felt that Maren Hassinger’s artwork was beautiful and was definitely thought provoking as it made me question a lot of how society functions. My favorite piece was her exhibit labeled “Love”. When she shared some pictures of this exhibit during her presentation, I questioned why anyone would be interested in viewing pink plastic bags on a wall. As she briefly discussed the meaning of this piece, I realized that the pink bags were filled with the breaths from different types of people. This just goes to show that regardless of skin color, race, religion, sex, and/or financial standing, that humans all exhale the same air. To implement this as a piece of artwork is really inspiring and almost allows the person who observed it to feel good. 

The one aspect of her presentation that did not appeal to me as much was when she mentioned that she had picked up all of the trash in one area of a park and then decided to place pink colored trash in the same area. She explained that this led to a higher percentage of people picking up the trash because the color pink was more noticeable compared to regular colored trash. I see the point she is trying to make regarding trash and the importance of litter, however I did not think it was necessary to first pick up trash, to only drop it on the ground again. This leads me to question if there are other forms of expressing the importance of litter through different types of artworks?

Maren Hassinger’s "Love"  

I feel that her artwork fits into the discussions that we have in class because just like women in the middle ages who painted or sculpted to portray an importance message, Maren Hassinger also has the same idea when creating her artwork.

Maren Hassinger’s art

I think Maren Hassinger’s art is breathtaking. I am not an art major. I did a little research on Maren while when I first know that Maren likes to use rope and wire in her sculptures, I was confused. I did not know how can anyone combine those things into fine artwork. However, the way Maren presents truly caught my eyes.




One of my favorite artwork from Maren is “Detail of Consolation,” which is made out of 100 units of 16 inches wire and wire rope. When I used to think about wire, I always think they are hard and cold, but after Maren’s design, the whole thing looks delicate and extremely tender, which got me related to the idea of patriarchy we have been discussing. If something hard can be fragile, can the opposite be true too?

Patriarchal society believes women are weak, but the truth is that sometimes women are stronger than men. The other reason why I think Maren’s artworks are amazing is that she does not need to use luxury materials to make fine arts. Lots of her arts are made out of ropes, papers and wires, which makes me feel like the most beautiful thing exist in our daily life.

Maren Hassinger's Presentation- Critique & EC

To begin, I want to say how great Hassinger's art was/is. Her attention to structure and color is impeccable. However, I was not a big fan of Maren Hassinger's presentation. While being amazed with how she made her sculptures or the movements she did at the park, I was met with confusion and frustration on to why she refused to admit that these sculptures had a deeper meaning. I believe that making art is important but making it mean something is almost equally as crucial.

Maren Hassinger, Wrenching News , 2008

For example, her piece: Wrenching News, was put together by ripping and abundance of pieces of the NY Times and twirling them in a way that they were pinned on a wall appearing to be a huge circle. This piece amazed about it. When asked about what the piece meant or why she chose the NY Times, she responded nonchalant and made it clear that she had no reason purpose of picking out this specific newspaper. Though I understand that some artists paint just paint or do things just to do it, I was not expecting that to be her answer. There has to be more to this piece than just ripped parts of newspapers attached and called "Wrenching News". She did not answer why she thought of doing this or what was going on in the world that pushed her to make the news a statement. 

When asked if her pieces are a protest, she responded with no. Hence, I was left at a uneasy spot. I associated many of her pieces with protest but she did not identify herself with that form of art. Thus, though I admired her art as a whole, I felt like I was missing something from her presentation and wish she focused more on the meaning of her pieces rather than her how she made them/ what materials she used or how the colors she chose popped out in numerous pieces. I feel like this will connect her to her audience more. 

Midterm Study Guide

STUDY GUIDE 

Midterm Exam 
10 - Identifications (Artist, Title, Date)
2 - Short essays/Side by side: Identification (Artists, Titles, Dates) and Compare and Contrast two works in a short essay

The Gaze and the Guerilla Girls
Guerrilla Girls, Advantages of Being a Woman Artist, 1986/89
Guerrilla Girls, Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into The Met?, 2005
bell hooks' definition of Patriarchy
John Berger's definition of Male Gaze

Middle Ages
Herrad of Landsberg, Hortus Deliciarum, after 1170
Hildegard of Bingen, Scivas c1142-52
Christine De Piz(s)an, Christine De Piz(s)an in her Study, from The City of Ladies, 1405

Renaissance
Sofonisba Anguissola, Self Portrait, 1561
Sofonisba Anguissola, Queen Anne of Austria, 1570
Sofonisba Anguissola, Boy Bitten By a Crayfish, before 1559
Elisabetta Siriani, Portia Wounding Her Thigh, 1664
Artemisia Gentileschi, Susanna and the Elders, 1610
*male artist Tintoretto, Susanna and the Elders, 1555
*male artist Orazio Gentileschi, Judith and her Maidservant, 1610
Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and her Maidservant, 1618
Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes, 1618
Artemisia Gentileschi, Self Portrait, 1630

17th & 18th Century Painting
Judith Leyster, A Woman Sewing by Candlelight, 1633
Judith Leyster, The Proposition, 1631
*male artist Vermeer, The Lacemaker, 1665-68
Anna Maria Sybilla Merian, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium 1705
Rachel Ruysch, Flowerpiece, after 1700
Angelica Kauffman, Zeuxis Selecting Models for His Picture of Helen of Troy, c. 1764
Angelica Kauffman, Vendor of Love, c. 1780
Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, Portrait of Marie Antoinette with Her Children, 1787

Victorian England
Edith Haylar, Feeding the Swans, 1889
Alice Walker, Wounded Feelings, 1861
Anna Blunden, The Seamstress, 1854
Rebecca Solomon, The Governess, 1853
Emily Mary Osborn, Nameless and Friendless, 1857
Rosa Bonheur, Plowing in the Nivernais, 1848
Rosa Bonheur, The Horse Fair, 1853-55
Elizabeth Thompson, Calling the Roll After an Engagement, Crimea, 1874

19C American Craft 
Harriet Powers, Pictorial Quilt 1895
Lilly Martin Spencer, We Both Must Fade, 1869
Lilly Martin Spencer, War Spirit at Home, 1866

Harriet Hosmer, Zenobia in Chains, 1859
Harriet Hosmer, Beatrice Cenci, 1857
Edmonia Lewis, Old Arrow Maker, 1866-72
Edmonia Lewis, Forever Free, 1867

Impressionism
Alice Barber Stephens, The Female Life Class, 1879
Susan MacDowel Eakins, Portrait of Thomas Eakins, 1889
Berthe Morisot, Mother and Sister of the Artist,1870
Eva Gonzales, Pink Morning, 1874
Mary Cassatt, A Cup of Tea, c 1880
Mary Cassatt, Woman in Black at the Opera, 1880
Berthe Morisot, Psyche, 1876