Wednesday January 28, 2026
Maren Hassinger (American, born 1947)
Untitled Vessel (Beige), 2021, stretch polyester fabric on steel armature, 60” x 24”
1. We are ALL vessels capable of compassion.
2. We are all equal. We share our humanity.
- Maren Hassinger
“…Their otherworldly presence is underscored by the gentle sway set in motion with each passing breeze. With a nod to Hassinger’s career in dance and performance, the fabric vessels’ graceful rotations make us conscious of our collective experience as we move through space, navigating between the fragile and ethereal and the prickly and earthbound.” from Susan Inglett Gallery website
“Born Maren Louise Jenkins, Hassinger grew up in Los Angeles. She enrolled at Bennington College, Vermont, in 1965 for dance, which she had studied since the age of five. She graduated four years later, however, with a bachelor’s degree in sculpture, though her interest in dance would remain strong and she often integrates it into her sculptural forms. After a brief stay in New York, she returned to Los Angeles to pursue an MFA in fiber from the University of California, Los Angeles, graduating in 1973. Hassinger’s study of fibers proved beneficial to her work in sculpture, and she learned techniques that would inform her later work. Since 1997 she has been director of the Rinehart School of Sculpture at Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, bringing her spirit of experimentation to teaching as well.
Hassinger also creates performance and video pieces that explore the relationship between the body and its surroundings. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s she sought out alternative spaces in which to show her works, such as abandoned buildings, construction sites, and vacant lots. Her experimentation extends beyond materials and venues to encompass collaboration with other artists, notably Senga Nengudi. Much like her sculptures and installations, Hassinger’s performances and videos generate a desire for discovery. Usually focused on movement, these works, though seemingly about the mundane, bring life to simple gestures and actions.
Whether through sculpture or performance, Hassinger does not offer an obvious encounter for the viewer. She allows the tensions inherent in her work to remain unresolved precisely because she trusts the viewer to form his or her own opinion. What results is not a didactic experience of art but rather a sensory discovery of what it means to be an individual. With works that are sometimes participatory and always experiential, Hassinger uses the sensual and the contemplative, understatement and evocation, to offer her viewers an opportunity to discover, reflect, and connect.” from Hammer Museum website