Donna Hapac

My abstract sculptures often recall the forms of animals and plants. I work primarily in natural materials to build container-like sculptures that cast complex shadows. The open weave of the work makes grids of lines, which are drawings in space. I focus on the structures and patterns that I observe in nature.

I began my art career painting and drawing, after completing my Master of Fine Arts. I exhibited and sold work for a number of years before deciding to change direction and pursue sculptural ideas.

Over the past twenty-five years, I have created my working methods and found my personal voice. I use reed, waxed linen, and other materials to create works that are at once, fragile, resilient, flexible, and often humorous. Evidence of the artist’s hand connects my work to the long history of handwork. The intertwining elements of my work reference the ageless craft of weaving, yet my forms retain a contemporary feel.

• Master of Fine Arts in Drawing, Northern Illinois University
• Studies in photography and printmaking, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
• Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting, University of Illinois at Urbana

RECENT ONE-PERSON & GROUP SHOWS
• "Constructing Nature," Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods, Riverwoods, IL 2016
• "True to Form: Works from Chicago Sculpture International," Brauer Museum of Art at Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN 2016
• "Making Nature," Northeastern Illinois University Fine Arts Gallery, Chicago 2016
• "Interconnections: The Language of Basketry," Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ2016
• "CSI: Themes in Contemporary Sculpture," Foster Gallery, Haas Fine Arts Center, UW-Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI 2015
• "Landfills: Lifestyle or Landscape," Bloomingdale Park District Museum, Bloomingdale, IL 2015
• "Sculpture Invasion 2015," Koehnline Art Museum, Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, IL 2015