Hannah Crosson | Holding Space, Touching Time: How Earth Remembers
Bio: My practice explores the tangible presence of absence and the physical nature of memory through sculpture, ceramics, touch drawings, painting and digital processes. Informed by 12 years of experience in bronze patination, I approach materials intuitively, often working with eyes closed to heighten focus on touch. My recent work investigates how objects hold space for grief and remembrance, particularly through memorial vessels and explorations with wild clay - connecting to the earth others have shaped before us across millennia. This investigation of presence, absence and memory led me to train as a death companion in 2023, allowing me to create meaningful conversations around mortality through making and deepen my understanding of how objects can hold space for grief.
I hold a BA in Fine Art from Norwich University of the Arts (2001) and an MRes from The London Consortium (2007)
3D digital model showing my face's profile rotated 360° - the design blueprint for creating my own funeral urn in slip cast porcelain
‘Milk Teeth' (2024) 360° porcelain vessel containing baby teeth, created from my daughter's profile Exhibited at Love Object, Garage Gallery
Touch Objects: Warrior, Volcanic, Clasp' (2024) 3D printed sculptures created from touch drawings of resonant objects - a clay head inspired by John the Baptist and Chinese warrior statues, volcanic ash from Vesuvius, and a writing book clasp. Each touch drawing was digitally transformed into a 360° form. Materials: polyester, permanent ink, carbon, graphite and plaster Exhibited at Love Object, Garage Gallery
Love Object Touch Drawings: Warrior & Clasp' (2024) Blind drawings made with dual-handed process - one hand touching and sensing the object, other hand drawing the sensation Materials: pen on printer paper Exhibited at Love Object, Garage Gallery
Automatic Alchemy #1 (2021)
Automatic Alchemy Portrait (2022)
Drawing inspiration from Walthamstow visionary artist Madge Gill, these works alternate between eyes-closed intuitive painting and conscious responses. The self-portrait emerged through touching my face with one hand while painting with the other. 'Automatic Alchemy: Argilla Amalgam' incorporates wild clay from near Gill's birthplace - clay that has existed here for millennia, creating a material connection through time and space to her creative presence
Automatic Alchemy: Argilla Amalgam (2024)
In Clay’s Embrace (2024)
Life’s Fleeting Breath (2024)
Series of slip cast porcelain cups with memento mori texts, made in hommage to a 17th century plate in the Museum of London's collection. I created a custom font from the plate's lettering, then collaborated with AI to generate new mottos on mortality - weaving together historical memento mori traditions with digital tools to help contemplate human transience.
You & I are Earth (2022)
Temporal Immutable Touch: Sketches in Clay (2021-2024) Compositions in fired local wild clay and porcelain, rearranged weekly throughout ‘States of Clay’ exhibition to create evolving dialogues between pieces. Though permanently fixed through firing, these 'sketches' remain in flux through their changing relationships with each other.
Underfoot Explored shown alongside Poppy Flint (2024) Interactive installation at ‘States of Clay’ exhibition where visitors processed wild clay dug from along the River Lea's bus route. People worked the clay through various stages while conversing, each creating objects from this local material that connects us to place and each other.
Patination Studies (2015) Exploring the intersection of bronze patination and impressions of portraiture (early photography and outline form):
Self Portrait: experimental patination as photographic process
Dad's Head: cast bronze bell capturing my father's 360° profile, precursor to later porcelain vessels
