jd hansen

American-born sculptor jd hansen lives and works in the United States. Over the course of a distinguished career, hansen has earned international recognition for sculptures held in hundreds of private collections as well as numerous public and institutional collections. Her work has been exhibited in galleries, civic spaces, and curated installations throughout the United States and abroad, reflecting a rare ability to resonate in both intimate private settings and ambitious public environments.

hansen’s sculpture explores the enduring tension between vulnerability and strength through the human and animal form. Her figures often appear elongated, poised, and psychologically charged, conveying emotional complexity through posture, gesture, and presence rather than overt narrative. She is deeply interested in the language of non-verbal communication—the subtle tilt of a head, the measured distance between figures, the quiet force of stance and balance—and in how these silent signals often reveal more than words.

Her work might be described as inhabiting the instant before transformation: that charged stillness where something ordinary becomes profound. Many of her sculptures seem suspended at a threshold between grace and ferocity, calm and unrest, tenderness and power. They do not present fixed answers so much as moments of becoming. There is tension in them, but it is disciplined tension—the kind that gives form its electricity.

At a time when many contemporary artists favor newer media, hansen is among the relatively few artists of her generation pushing the ancient medium of bronze into distinctly contemporary territory. Rather than treating bronze as a material of tradition alone, she challenges its conventions through daring compositions, unexpected surfaces, and highly sophisticated patinas that move well beyond customary finishes. Her works can appear weathered, luminous, painterly, or almost geological, demonstrating a command of bronze that is both technical and inventive.

Most recently, hansen has incorporated welded copper handwriting into her sculpture, adding another layer of conceptual and visual complexity. These flowing strands of script wrap around or move through the bronze forms like thoughts suspended in space—fragments of memory, emotion, or internal dialogue given physical presence. The contrast between solid bronze and fluid copper creates a compelling dialogue between permanence and impermanence, body and mind, structure and motion.

Each work is developed through a process of struggle, revision, and refinement until tension itself becomes part of the final composition. The result is not passive serenity, but something more compelling: a quiet brilliance that seems to tremble just beneath the surface. hansen’s sculptures feel timeless in material yet unmistakably contemporary in spirit, offering viewers works that are at once intimate, monumental, and deeply human.
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WORK INDEX

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ARTWORK

Artist Statement

"The subleties of slights and pains. It’s not the big events that hurt the most, but rather the smallest, questionable shift in tone at the end of a spoken word that can plow most deeply into the heart.”

As I read this passage by Steve Martin, it struck me as the definition of my work. I work on a sculpture with a strong concept in mind; I try to capture the bare essence of a human experiencing the moment she is in at that time. A certain tilt to the head or drop of the shoulder reveals if the subject is at peace or in turmoil. I strive to cover the gamut of human existence in a snippet of space and time.

The work doesn’t scream to get its message across. It is a hand placed lightly on the shoulder, giving a gentle nudge to invite the viewer to see. It is with a calm and settled mind that the viewer can hear the haunting melodies. These undercurrents of darkness are visible beneath the aesthetically approachable exteriors; the smooth texture giving way to the melted roughness, the dignified posture giving way to a mournful turn; the warm bronze hue giving way to the cold, resistant tension of bronze.

My influences are widespread, but I am deeply inspired by musicians and songwriters. There is always music playing in my studio, and some of those songs have turned into sculptures. Listening to “Sweet Dreams” by Marilyn Manson, or “Grey Street” by Dave Matthews prods me to push the work to another level, coax the darkness out of the light, and expose a private thought betrayed by body language. It doesn’t have to be pretty, but it has to be true.

-jd hansen

 
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Video

Video of  "Valley of the Sunrise" in our Village Court Gallery.

 
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Video

The Making of a Sculpture

 
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Video

Post-war Dance with Cheryl Ekstrom and jd Hansen

Biography

Sculptor jd hansen’s work reflects the subtleties of emotional circumstance moment by moment. Whether reflecting tension, conflict, peace, or joy through the smallest tilt of the head of position of an arm, she constructs exquisite portraits of the human condition in her own unique voice.

The voice comes across in aesthetically approachable exteriors where smooth textures give way to melted roughness and dignified postures warp into emotional curves. The warm bronze becomes a vehicle for intense and complex psychological permutations, acting themselves out within the classic medium.

jd hansen has gained considerable recognition over the past few years with numerous articles in national publications as well as gallery representation across the United States. Her extraordinary work has put her into the spotlight and caught the attention of collectors worldwide. Just recently, two of her 10-foot sculptures were installed in Taiwan.

Hansen’s education includes a BFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and hands on foundry training in bronze and metalworking. She has been included in many exhibitions throughout the United States. Her sculptures appear in various public and private collections including the Davis Brown Tower and World Food Museum in Des Moines, Iowa, Seven Bridges Foundation in Greenwich, Connecticut and a permanent installation at a five-star Taiwanese resort.