Kathleen Hanna
Curator & Exhibition Designer
Recent Projects
Exhibition Director
2009 - Firing a Legacy – retrospective exhibition for David Kuraoka and selected
students from his 38 year teaching career in the Ceramics Department of SF State University, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
2009 - All Aboard – Artists and Historians Picture the Railroad – juried art and historical
images and memorabilia in conjunction with the Northwestern Pacific Railroad Historical Society and Petaluma Arts Council
2008 & 2011 - New West Coast Design – 2008 project included five Bay Area venues
showing various aspects of contemporary design by West Coast artists from January through March 2008
California Design - four historical biannual juried exhibitions of work by eighty to one
hundred California designers and studio artists - all aspects of exhibition management from designing the call for entries and exhibition announcement through press relations and management of related events, direction of the installation and dismantling crews and documentation for archives of the Oakland Museum of California – exhibition space 600 Townsend Street, San Francisco
Curator
2013 – Curator/Designer, Four Weavers, Petaluma Aft Center
2012 – Curator/Designer, Good Company, works in clay and glass by members of
ACGA and historical figures from contemporary ceramic movement in California
2012 – Curator/Designer, Figurative, works in clay, painting and drawing for Pence
Gallery, Davis, CA
2012 – Curator/Designer with Ted Cohen, New West Coast Design 2, exhibition of
contemporary objects from furniture to high tech equipment, Museum of Craft +
Design, San Francisco
2011- Curator/Designer Emeryville Arts, 25th anniversary exhibition all media,
Emeryville, CA
2011 – Curator/Designer, Transcendent, works in clay by Don Reitz, Michelle Gregor,
and David Kuraoka, Pence Gallery , Davis, CA
2011 – Curator/Designer, Family Tree- 65 Years of Fine Woodworking in Northern
California,– Petaluma Arts Center, Petaluma, CA
2011 – Curator/Designer, Oyster Farm, exhibition of photographs by Evvy Eisen,
Petaluma Arts Center - March
2009 - Curator solo exhibition of work by furnituremaker Alison McLennan, Artworks
Downtown, San Rafael
2008 - Co-curator with Ted Cohen for New West Coast Design – Contemporary Objects at the San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design
2008 - Curator The State of the Art Quilt, Artworks Gallery, San Rafael
2005 - Material Matters– exhibition of work by Karen Hampton, Pamina Traylor and Philip Agee for the Museum of Craft & Folk Art, San Francisco
2000-04 - Craft Showcase - five annual exhibitions of furniture and objects by
contemporary studio artists for the Museum of Craft & Folk Art, San Francisco -exhibitions typically included 50 artists - works were for sale, a portion of proceeds to support museum projects - historical narrative accompanied each exhibition
Exhibition Designer
2011 – Anonymous, exhibition of anonymous photographs and quilts form the collection
of Robert Flynn Johnson, Petaluma Art Center
2010 – Solo Exhibition by weaver Candace Crockett, Massa Carrara, Italy
2010 – Art of the Doll – Protection healing, Power and Play, , Petaluma Arts
Center – September
2010 – Beyond Digital – group exhibition of works by photographers using new
techniques and materials including metals, fabrics and tapestry, for PAC
2010 – Shining Brightly, Tapestry Weavers West at Petaluma Art Center
2009 - Firing a Legacy, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
2009 – One of a Kind – the Furniture of Alison McLennan - one person exhibition,
Artworks Downtown, San Rafael
2009 - All Aboard – Artists and Historians Picture the Railroad, PAC
2009 - Friends along the Journey - Baulines Craft Guild Master Member Exhibition,
Artworks Downtown, San Rafael
2009 - Weather Report, mixed media juried exhibition G.K.Hardt Gallery, Petaluma, CA
2008 - Association of Clay and Glass Artists, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
2006 - Master Members of BCG at Gualala Art Center, 2006
2003 & 04 - Master/Apprentice Annual - work by members of the BCG, 600 Townsend
Street, San Francisco
2002 - Seven Workers in Wood - for Mendocino Coast Furnituremakers at the
Mendocino Art Center, Mendocino, CA - project included extensive background text for each artist and all graphics.
2001 Art to Wear - exhibition of clothing, jewelry and accessories by thirteen artists for
Artworks Downtown, San Rafael
Historian
Catalog Essay for exhibition Jade Snow Wong, a Retrospective at theChinese Historical Society of America, San Francisco, July - December 2002
Introduction - Craft of Northern California, Alcove Books, Berkeley, CA 2002
Interview with furnituremaker Art Espenet Carpenter for the Smithsonian Institution Archives of American Art
Documentary Film - Woodsmith – The Life and Times of Arthur Espenet Carpenter documenting Carpenter and the contemporary furniture movement
Comments on Recent Projects
"Kathleen Hanna has many abilities essential to the contemporary California craft movement. She is one of the very few historians, is highly experienced in art administration, is a curator and a clay artist herself. Pretty fine credentials!"
Carole Austin, Retired Curator, Museum of Craft & Folk Art, San Francisco
"I find that Kathleen Hanna is not only an astute arts and crafts historian but also a talented installation designer. She can take the concept and guide it to a satisfying conclusion."
Theodore Cohen, Exhibition Designer, Consultant for Private Collectors
“Kathleen Hanna is a visionary with the left brain of a corporate CEO.”
Phyllis Thelen, Founder and Director, Artworks, San Rafael, CA