CCA News
Let's Get Physical . . . at the Museum! with Shawn E. HibmaCronan
Posted on Friday, June 25, 2010, by Samantha Braman
Have you ever reached out to touch a painting or sculpture . . . only to receive an immediate smackdown from the museum guard? The Oakland Museum of California Sculpture Court has temporarily dispensed with the conventional museological for display only restriction to honor the artistic intent of Shawn HibmaCronan (Sculpture and Furniture 2009). In fact, the Berkeley-based artist encourages viewers to totally engage with his art—not just visually, but physically as well.
"My work is meant to be picked up, poked at, sat on, and rolled around," he says. "My furniture is sculptural, and my sculpture is functional. I want people to ponder its use intellectually and practically. Physical interaction is absolutely necessary."
His interactive pieces currently on exhibit in Oakland include a "getaway" school desk, a flexible LED caterpillar light, a motorized chair, and a moveable tank chair. HibmaCronan says he specifically works with commonplace materials that will draw viewers in and focus their attention on the forms, composition, and detailed craftsmanship. "I use materials and forms that have a certain inherent conceptual weight. The fun part is combining them into something new. Ideally the work becomes something strangely unforgettable, just past definition. It is very important to me that the pieces are honest, no material is disguised, and no mechanism is hidden."
This solo exhibition (open through July 30) is a major accomplishment for such a young artist. But you might say artistic accomplishment is in his blood. His parents, Michael Cronan and Karin Hibma, are renowned designers; they founded their firm ::CRONAN:: in 1980, and were both among Fast Company's 2009 list of the 100 Most Creative People in Business (Michael Cronan is also a CCA alum and taught graphic design here for 20 years). His brother, Nick Cronan (Industrial Design 2002), is another CCA alum, and now a creative lead at the renowned firm fuseproject.
Some of HibmaCronan's favorite pieces were ones he originally made as CCA studio course assignments. He praises the college for allowing him to explore and do things that he otherwise wouldn't have, and for giving him the opportunity to create many of the works that are now a critical part of his oeuvre.
"I will always remember tearing around campus with teachers and friends, 'testing' my vehicle pieces with security in pursuit, then heading back to the shop to mend what we broke. CCA has an extreme amount of talent under its roof. And a lot of extra information can be extracted from your teachers, if you have patience and persistence. As my dad says: 'Hang out with people who are smarter than you.'"
HibmaCronan's work has appeared in Woodwork magazine and in galleries and museums across California. He has also executed several site-specific pieces and was recently commissioned to create a sculpture for the new terminal under construction at San Francisco International Airport. While he was at CCA he won Creative Achievement awards; he received the Ronald and Anita Wornick Award, given to students working in the wood arts who show particular creativity, craftsmanship, and dedication; and he graduated from both the Sculpture and the Furniture programs with highest-distinction honors.
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