Artist Spotlight: Carrianne Hendrickson & Rabbit Boy
For Mason:
Carrianne Hendrickson is a regional sculptor and craft artist. Her works are imaginative and often whimsical, imbued with symbolic meaning. Hendrickson was born near Seneca Lake, New York. She first became interested in Buffalo when her older brother came to attend a summer workshop in film and photography at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She was inspired by his descriptions of "the train station and the intriguing industrial landmarks" (Hendrickson). Soon after, she moved to Buffalo to attend college. The shift from the rural environment where she grew up to an urban center was "quite an abrupt transition" for Hendrickson, but it didn't keep her from being an active part of the arts culture of the Western New York region. Hendrickson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in ceramic design at the SUNY College at Buffalo, N.Y. (Buffalo State) in 1997 and completed art education certification coursework in the year 2000.
Many of her sculptures and drawings are populated with anthropomorphic creatures including goat woman andrabbit boy, to name two.
Why do you create what you do?
"I make work about human and animal nature. I gravitate towards figurative and animal imagery that has a dreamlike quality. I exhibit work locally and nationally. I generally make work under 28” in height as I prefer work that is easily transported, and displayed. I am very much influenced by contemporary figurative art. I force myself to work a certiain number of hours per week on the actual hands-on creation of my pieces. I work weather I’m inspired or not. If I don’t have a particular idea, I work anyway and let the ideas come. I don’t believe that inspiration is the motivator of art; I believe hard work is. If you work hard enough, inspiration will come."
