Harmony Hammond facts for kids

Harmony Hammond, born on February 8, 1944, is an American artist, activist, and writer. She was a key person in starting the feminist art movement in New York during the 1970s. This movement focused on art that explored women's experiences and challenged traditional ideas about art.

Early Life and Education

Harmony Hammond was born in Hometown, Illinois, on February 8, 1944. When she was 17, Hammond went to Miliken University in Decatur, Illinois. Later, she moved to Minneapolis and studied at the University of Minnesota. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in painting in 1967.

Art Career and Activism

In 1969, Hammond moved to New York. She became a very important voice for women artists.

Starting Art Spaces for Women

Harmony Hammond helped create the A.I.R. Gallery in 1972. This was the first art gallery in New York City run by women artists working together. She also helped start Heresies: A Feminist Publication of Art and Politics in 1976. This was a magazine about art and politics from a feminist point of view. Hammond wrote articles for the magazine and helped edit several issues. She also taught at the New York Feminist Art Institute.

Curating Exhibitions

Hammond organized many art shows to highlight the work of women artists. In 1978, she curated A ... Show at 112 Greene Street Workshop. She was also one of the artists featured in the "Great American ... Art Show" in 1980. In 1981, Hammond organized Home Work: The Domestic Environment As Reflected in the Work of Women Artists. This show explored how women artists used themes from home life in their art. In 1999, she curated Out West in Santa Fe. This exhibition brought together many artists from diverse backgrounds in the Southwest.

Writing and Films

Harmony Hammond has written important books about art. Her first book, Wrappings: Essays on Feminism, Art, and the Martial Arts, came out in 1984. It was a collection of her writings from 1973 to 1983. In 2000, she published ... Art in America: A Contemporary History. She also appeared in two films about feminist art in 2010: The Heretics and !Women Art Revolution.

Teaching and Later Work

In 1984, Hammond moved to New Mexico, where she still lives and works today. She taught painting and mixed media at the University of Arizona in Tucson from 1988 to 2005. Hammond continues to teach art workshops. She also writes, organizes exhibitions, and gives talks about feminist and queer art.

Harmony Hammond's Artworks

Harmony Hammond's art often shows that traditionally feminine things can be important subjects for art. For example, in the early 1970s, she made sculptures using fabric. Fabric is often seen as a feminine material. She created four series using fabric: Bags (1971), Presences (1972), Floorpieces (1973), and Wrapped Sculptures (1977–1984). Hammond's paintings are mostly abstract and show how they were made. In the 1990s, she created mixed-media installations. These artworks combined everyday materials like human hair or roofing with traditional oil painting. In the 2000s, she focused on making abstract paintings with one main color.

The Meeting of Passion and Intellect (1981), an example of the artist's wrapped sculptures, at the National Gallery of Art in 2022

Presences Series

The Presences series was created in 1971–1972. It was her first big series of artworks. These pieces are made from fabric scraps soaked in paint. They are sewn together and hung from the ceiling. Presences was shown at Harmony Hammond's first solo exhibition in New York in 1973. The fabric pieces are different lengths, sometimes layered or tied. They have earthy colors with bright spots of patterns like plaids and polka dots. Hammond wanted these works to show the history of women's creativity and their claim to space. Many of the fabric scraps came from members of a women's group Hammond was part of.

Floorpieces Series

In 1973, Hammond created her Floorpieces series. She made these artworks like braided rugs, using colorful fabric scraps. She found these scraps in dumpsters in New York's garment district. The rag-rugs were then painted with acrylic paint. They were displayed on the ground, like actual rugs. Most of Hammond's Floorpieces were about 5 feet (1.5 meters) wide and almost 2 inches (5 cm) thick. Their size and detail are best appreciated in person. These artworks challenged the idea of what counts as "art" versus "craft." They also explored the space between painting and sculpture.

Near Monochromes

During the 1990s and early 2000s, Hammond's art became less sculptural. Her works looked more like traditional paintings. She focused on forms that were partly hidden under layers of paint. Hammond explained that her paintings became "simpler, more condensed, with fewer materials." These works might include "straps, grommets, bandage-like strips of cloth, or rough burlap patches."

Recognition and Awards

Harmony Hammond has had over 40 solo art shows around the world. Her art has been displayed in many famous museums. These include the Tucson Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her works are also part of permanent collections in places like the Walker Art Center and the Brooklyn Museum.

She has received many important awards and fellowships. These include support from the National Endowment of the Arts and the Rockefeller Foundation. In 2013, the Women's Caucus for Art announced that Hammond would receive their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. Her personal papers were acquired by the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles in 2016.

Harmony Hammond: Material Witness, Five Decades of Art was her first big museum show. It took place at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Connecticut. The exhibit then traveled to the Sarasota Art Museum in Sarasota, Florida, in 2020. A book about Hammond's work was published with the exhibit. Hammond's art was also part of the 2021 exhibition Women in Abstraction at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Notable Artworks in Public Collections

• Hug (1978); Whitney Museum, New York
• Durango (1979); Art Institute of Chicago
• Hunkertime (1980); Brooklyn Museum, New York
• The Meeting of Passion and Intellect (1981); National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
• Radiant Affection (1983–1984); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• Chicken Lady (1989); Minneapolis Institute of Art
• Tiny Aperture #3 (2013); Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York

See also

In Spanish: Harmony Hammond para niños