Bryan Hiveley
American ceramist.

Miami, Florida based Hiveley received a BFA from the University of Minnesota, Duluth in 1996 and an MFA from the University of South Carolina (USC), Columbia in 1999. He was a summer studio assistant at the Penland School of Crafts in 1997-99, technical assistant at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in 1999 and has taught at the Miami International University of Art and Design since 2000. He was artist-in-residence at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in 1999-2000, the University of Miami, Coral Gabels in 2000 and the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in 2004.

Hively has received numerous grants and awards, including a USC Research Travel Grant in 1998, a USC Dean’s Award for Outstanding Graduate Endeavors in 1999 and the Miami Cultural Affairs Council Tigertail Artist Grant in 2004. He makes organic, abstract and semi-abstract sculpture inspired by nature and environmental concerns and suggestive of ‘universal’ biomorphic forms.

Artist's Statement:

The natural world has always been the driving force in my creation of art. Nature is an endless source of inspiration and fascination. Its beauty and intelligence are reflected in the simplicity of a seedpod or the complexity of an entire ecosystem. In my sculptures, stacked forms act as metaphors for the delicate balances in nature and the interdependency of living things. It is not only the botanical or zoological that interests me; landscape itself can be the source of inspiration. Nature, when left alone, will regulate itself, but human impact on the environment will push it off balance. This is suggested by the counterbalancing of different objects. The suggestive tilt of certain sculptures creates a spatial tension around the work. This deceptively fragile environment alludes to the urgency of environmental concerns. I use texture and color to suggest interior and exterior spaces, the protective and the vulnerable. My surface treatment references the body, organic and man-made surfaces, and the aquatic and terrestrial spheres. My goal is not to directly mimic specific objects in nature, but rather to suggest universal biomorfic forms with no discernable identity. Individual forms may take on the context of a crawling insect, climbing plant form, or enlarged paramecium. It is my hope that the viewer will reexamine the natural world around them, reconsidering the importance of the most obvious natural wonders as well as what would seem to be the most insignificant.

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