Alli Hoag to be artist in residence at Toledo Museum of Art

The US Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) has named Alli Hoag as the 55^th Guest Artist Pavilion Project (GAPP) Artist in Residence from 23 August to 1 September 2023.

Alli Hoag was the 2015 Glass Art Society Emerging Artist and is currently the Bowling Green State University head of glass programme and assistant professor.

During the residency, Alli will create new work and share her process. There will also be a free artist’s lecture on 25 August at 7pm, plus free public demonstrations.

The GAPP brings in glass and contemporary artists who are willing to explore the use of glass in their work to be inspired, without restriction, by the TMA collection, studio facilities and staff. The programme aligns with the Museum’s educational aim to promote dialogue in contemporary glass and contemporary art communities. A committee of TMA staff members selects the GAPP Artist in Residence.

Alli uses glass, installation, video, performance and digital technology to explore ideas of magic as humans’ desire to understand the natural world. “I see magic as the desire to connect with the world outside of our perceptual and cognitive abilities,” she states. “In my work, I attempt to create moments where one can believe that distance is overcome. I investigate this uniquely human desire to reveal the simultaneous lightness and heaviness that is created when the imagined or invisible is laboured into the physical realm.”

Alli compares her artistic practice to taxidermy. She dissects and reconstructs found objects to recreate real and imagined narratives that audiences can share. She also works across sound, sculpture and performance with Icelandic performance artist and pianist Tinna Thorsteinsdóttir in a collaborative known as Bylta.

She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in glass from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and graduated from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.

The TMA is open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays (11am-5pm) and Fridays and Saturdays (11am-8pm) (free entry).

It is located at: 2445 Monroe St. at Scottwood Avenue, Toledo, Ohio 43620, US. For more information, visit: toledomuseum.org

Image: Alli Hoag’s ‘Trace Decay #1’ (2019) uses lost wax cast glass, antique taxidermy fawn, mixed media. Photo: Tom Brooks