Art Windsor-Essex respectfully acknowledges that we are located on Anishinaabe Territory – the traditional territory of the Three Fires Confederacy of First Nations, comprised of the Ojibway, the Odawa, and the Potawatomi. Today the Anishinaabe of the Three Fires Confederacy are represented by Bkejwanong. We want to state our respect for the ancestral and ongoing authority of Walpole Island First Nation over its Territory.
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- Duane Hanson: Portraits from the Heartland
Duane Hanson: Portraits from the Heartland
August 28, 2004 - February 14, 2004
AWE Gallery
Portraits from the Heartland examines the sculpture of Duane Hanson (1925-96) and its cultural connections to the midwestern United States. The exhibition consists of twenty-two lifesized sculptures, and is the first to focus primarily on the influence of his Midwestern origins on his artistic vision.
Hanson was a social realist who observed the everyday lives of a range of individuals in the American society. He admired ordinary people, including the underpriviledged and the elderly. Through his art, he sought to make the public aware of their presence and their contribution to society. Hanson developed a strong sense of social justice early in life, which enabled him to empathize with the plight of marginalized individuals.Over the course of his career, Hanson created sculptures whose subjects included people of different social and ethnic backgrounds. Their facial expressions are often introspective and contemplative. Our empathy towards them is heightended by their profession or social status, many gallery visitors have mistaken Hanson’s sculptures for actual people.
