GRAND FORKS – The “Art in Folding Circles” exhibit, featuring works by Bradford Hansen-Smith, opens with an artist reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, at the ArtWise Gallery and Creation Space near the Columbia Mall center court.
Hansen-Smith will discuss his work with art historian Nicole Derenne in a conversation, for those gathered, during the reception. Derenne is a teaching assistant professor in the UND Department of Art and Design.
“As a child, I painted and drew until realizing I learned more by making objects,” Hansen-Smith said. “Carving wood, casting bronze and welding steel, I addressed issues about man and technology in my work.”
Contributed / ArtWise
His work “is always toward exploration into ideas and concepts where the process remains open for surprises beyond my control that often give a spontaneous feel to a well-finished piece that otherwise would not be there,” he said. “I am most interested in problem-solving projects to see what comes to the surface. My need in making things is to actually see what they look like and to feel them in space.”
Hansen-Smith, a working artist and teacher, developed a process he calls “Wholemovement” as a means of teaching geometry through folding paper circles.
He created a guide for teachers and home-schooling parents to show how geometry can be derived from the circle, offering a fun way to introduce children – and adults – to a better understanding of geometry.
Contributed / ArtWise
“Drawing and making things is how I have always explored and understood the world around me,” Hansen-Smith said. “I made a living as a sculptor for many years before needing to know more about spatial patterns of movement and how they worked. Buckminster Fuller was my introduction to geometry.”
He worked for 25 years in casting bronze, using steel with cast and fabricating rubber, before he began to explore geometry, he said. “Ten years into geometry led me to explore folding circles as fundamental to what I now do. For the last 35 years I have been folding and exploring the extraordinary advantages and information the circle generates over folding all other shapes and forms.”
Contributed / North Dakota Museum of Art
Hansen-Smith continues “to explore the comprehensive nature of the circle as an informing tool,” he said. “I am continually amazed at how much there is in the folds of a circle that we do not know.”
The exhibit will remain on display through Sept. 28.
For more information, contact ArtWise at (701) 757-2781 or
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