S.I.R.
Manifest Scholar in Residence
2021/2022
Hanna Sosin
This year Manifest continues a new branch of its residency program—the Manifest Scholar in Residence (SIR).
Hanna Sosin is an artist and art instructor based in Southeastern Michigan. In 2015, she received her BA in Biochemistry from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. Hanna's drawings and paintings sew together the edges of natural science, fantasy, and humor into unexpected narratives and worlds. With her art, Hanna displays the wonder found in shifting perspectives and embracing joy as a radical practice. Her works have been displayed in regional group and solo shows including at Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Scarab Club in Detroit, Michigan, and the Royal Oak Public Library in Royal Oak, Michigan. Her work has won an Honorable Mention at the Scarab Club and First Place at the Romeo Art Guild.
Artist's Statement:
"My art is a conversation that skips, skitters, jokes, and holds stillness like a fallen maple seed, only to chance upon delight and start all over again. In drawing, I tell a story of how I find wonder in my surroundings. When told well, this story is a conversation between my inner monologue and biases and the world outside my head. It's a dialogue of questions, answers, and loose ends that asks for participation not just from me and my surroundings, but from a viewer. Its a conversation that relies heavily on my compulsion to draw, my unusual compilation of knowledge, and my push to ask whole-hearted questions.
At the most basic level, I make art because I always have made art. Even in the depths of my Biochemistry undergraduate degree, I drew and painted. For me, art simultaneously comes from a need to physically create something and a habit of throwing ideas together and observing the results. Years of this approach have imbedded visual art into the way I see and process the world around me. It has become a mindfulness practice, a delight finding device, and a way to observe the worlds created when ideas collide, fuse, and grow. As a chronically relapsing perfectionist, in drawing I've found a way to flip the script my brain always seemed to religiously follow. This context makes art creation an endlessly valuable resource for me. It opens a pathway to appreciating both my successes and mistakes, as well as the things I cant control.
That pathway has allowed me to use art to incorporate the disparate knowledge Ive accumulated over the course of my life. It allows the miracle of cell physiology to become intertwined with the technical rhythms of playing cello, drawing from life, and comic book panels. The knowledge by itself is only the backdrop for my art making process. Without the conversation of art fueled by questions, it is simply data stuck in my brain. When I thread together concepts, images, and felt experience with questions I start to create alternate worlds for viewers to sink into and discover. These questions do not just ask, but appreciate where my technical skills can support me, clarify intention/purpose, and have the potential for many interesting answers."
The images pictured at right are a sampling of those submitted with Hanna's application.
See more and learn about Hanna's work here:
www.hannasosin.com
The Scholar In Residence Program (SIR) at Manifest contrasts with the Artist In Residence Program (MAR) in a number of ways. Primarily the SIR is intended to support the study, practice, and exploration of the artist in one or more focus areas. This may be related to theory, aesthetics/criticism, teaching, studio/curricular operations, or studio-based art making. The nature of each resident's interest and focus will naturally determine the kinds of documentation provided across the year.
Information on how to apply for future SIR or MAR awards can be found here.
