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Bryant Park Shoeshine, 2016
42nd Street and 5th Avenue, Manhattan, New York City
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For this participatory public performance, I bought a pair of all-white Air Force 1's and received a shoeshine at the stand on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan. The work embeds itself in the practice of shoe-shining to explore it's material and metaphorical qualities, and it's relationship to aspects of identity, power, and labor.
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Nolan Hanson is an artist based in New York City. Their practice includes independent work as well as collaborative socially engaged projects, and has been shown in New York, Chicago, Cincinnati, San Francisco and Portland. Nolan is the founder of Trans Boxing, an art project in the form of a boxing club that centers trans and gender variant people. They received their BFA in Painting from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2014 and in 2021 they graduated from the Art and Social Practice MFA program at Portland State University.
Education
2021 Master in Fine Arts, Contemporary Art Practice, Social Practice, Portland State University
2014 Bachelor in Fine Arts, Painting and Drawing, University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee
Exhibitions, Performances, and Projects, Solo and Collaborative
2021
Trans Boxing: Portraits. Cube Space Gallery, Berkeley, CA. With Ada Jane McNulty. (in progress)
Vicious Time, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Portland, OR.
Beds Without Students in Them. Portland State University, Portland, OR.
An Effort to Defend. Wave Pool Gallery, Cincinnati, OH.
2020
The James Baldwin School Boxing Club, More Art, New York, NY. With Hill Carelli-Donnell.
2019
How To Explain Belief. Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute. San Francisco, CA.
Training Performance. EXPLODE! queer dance: Midwest: Northwestern University, Chicago, IL. With Marcela Torres.
Corrections Performance. Assembly: Mount Scott Community Center, Portland, OR. With James Hanley and Tia Kramer.
2018
Body | Armor, ACRE Gallery, Chicago, IL.
On Air Fest, Wythe Hotel. Brooklyn, NY.
2017
Trans Boxing. New York, NY. (ongoing)
Golden Gloves. Glen Cove High School, Glen Cove, NY. With Jewel Lambert.
2016
Art in Odd Places: Race, New York, NY.
Bryant Park Shoeshine. 42nd Street, New York, NY. With Hector.
2014-2010
BFA Thesis Exhibition, Arts Center Gallery, Milwaukee, WI.
Best of Sculpture, Kenilworth Gallery, Milwaukee, WI.
Foundations XI: Ecology/Ecologies, Union Art Gallery, Milwaukee, WI.
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Selected Writing
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Articles and Reviews
Manley, Mackenzie. "Brooklynite Nolan Hanson Brings Trans Boxing to Cincinnati via Camp Washington's Wave Pool", CityBeat, Aug. 28, 2020.
Feinman, Amanda. “Trans Boxing Collective is a Safe Space for Throwing Punches”, Bedford + Bowery, Feb. 22, 2019.
Mathew, Teresa. “This Boxing Club Helps Trans People Embrace Their Bodies”, Buzzfeed, Apr. 11, 2018.
Carrigan, Margaret. "Experimental Sound Makers and Podcasters Unite at Brooklyn's On Air Fest", The Observer, Feb. 28, 2018.
Essays and Interviews
Hanson, Nolan. “The Whole Thing Done Changed”. Interview with Carl Westbrooks. Social Forms of Art Journal: Conversations on Everything. Spring 2021.
Hanson, Nolan. “The James Baldwin School Boxing Club”. Essay. Trans Boxing Zine Issue 1, May 2021.
Hanson, Nolan. “Talking About Trans Boxing”. Group Conversation. Social Forms of Art Journal: Conversations on Everything. Winter 2021.
Hanson, Nolan. “What’s One Other Thing?”. Interview with Gavílan Rayna Russom. Social Forms of Art Journal: Conversations on Everything. Fall 2020.
Hanson, Nolan. “Trans Boxing” Catalogue. Assembly; Portland State University. June 2020.
Hanson, Nolan. “Trans Boxing Conceptual Exercises”, Social Forms of Art Journal, Issue 5: Pedagogy. June 2020.
Hanson, Nolan. “I Remember Well: Recreation and Spiritual Striving”, The Social Forms of Art Journal, Issue 3: Recreation. June 2019.
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Lectures and Workshops
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2021
Artist Talk, Portland State University, Portland, OR.
Guest Lecturer, UNC Greensboro, Greensboro, NC.
2020
Artist Talk, Portland State University, Portland, OR.
Guest Lecturer, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH.
Trans Boxing Workshop, Assembly, Portland State University, Portland, OR.
Guest Lecturer, Portland State University, Portland, OR.
Guest Lecturer, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
Trans Boxing Workshop, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA.
Artist Talk, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA.
2019
Artist Talk, CUE Art Foundation, New York, NY.
Artist Talk, Headlands Center for the Arts, Marin County, CA.
Trans Boxing Workshop, Portland State University, Portland, OR.
Awards and Residencies
2021
Arlene Schnitzer Visual Arts Prize; Portland State University, Portland, OR.
2020
Artist-in-Residence, Wave Pool, Cincinnati, OH.
2019
NYC Pride Community Grant Recipient; New York, NY.
Arlene Schnitzer Visual Arts Jury Commendation; Portland State University, Portland, OR.
Artist-in-Residence. More Art, New York, NY.
Artist-in-Residence. Heavy Breathing, San Francisco, CA.
2018
Schnitzer Art and Design Scholarship. Portland State University; Portland, OR.
Artist-in-Residence, On Air Fest. Brooklyn, NY.
NYC Pride Community Grant Recipient; New York, NY.
Artist Fellowship, More Art, New York, NY.
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2013-2009
Wisconsin Higher Education Grant; Milwaukee, WI.
Art Department Scholarship; University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI.
Academic Competitiveness Grant; University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI.
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Teaching
2021
Instructor, Relational Art and Civic Practice, Portland State University, Portland, OR.
2020
Guest Instructor, The James Baldwin School, New York, NY,
Teaching Assistant, CORE, Portland State University; Portland, OR.
2019
Teaching Assistant, CORE, Portland State University; Portland, OR.
Teaching Assistant, History of Social Practice Art, Portland State University; Portland, OR.
2013
Project Assistant, Global Milwaukee; Dr. Shelleen Greene, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Milwaukee, WI.