Vandorn Hinnant
Vandorn Hinnant | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1953 (age 72–73) Greensboro, North Carolina, United States |
| Residence | Durham, North Carolina, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | North Carolina A&T State University |
| Known for | Geometric sculpture and drawing rooted in sacred geometry |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Visual art, sculpture, sacred geometry |
Vandorn Hinnant (born 1953) is an American visual artist, sculptor, poet and educator based in Durham, North Carolina. He is known for abstract drawings, paintings and sculpture grounded in sacred geometry, through which he explores the relationships he perceives between the physical sciences and the science of consciousness. Much of his mature work applies Euclidean construction, the Golden Ratio, logarithmic spirals and fractal mathematics to compositions realized as drawings, paintings and metal sculpture.
Biography
Hinnant grew up in the Ole Asheboro neighborhood of Greensboro, North Carolina. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in art from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro and went on to study sculpture and visual art at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. After college he moved to New York City, where he worked with the printmaker Josef Werner.
Beginning in the 1980s, Hinnant incorporated fractal mathematics, the Golden Ratio, logarithmic spirals and sacred geometry into his artistic practice. In 1988 he exhibited work based on the 13th-century Fibonacci sequence and the writings of Luca Pacioli. From 1989 he studied sacred geometry formally under the inventor and physicist Robert L. Powell, Sr. He has cited ancient Egyptian, Indian, Greek and Roman architecture, as well as Buckminster Fuller, Leonardo da Vinci, Frank Lloyd Wright and M. C. Escher, as influences on his work.
In addition to his studio practice, Hinnant has served as a guest curator of exhibitions, as a juror of fine art competitions, and as a guest lecturer at colleges and universities. He works as an arts educational consultant with both youth and adult learners, and from 2007 through 2010 he taught a mandala print-making class at Duke University through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute of the Department of Continuing Education. He also leads experiential workshops on "The Geometry of Art and Life."
Work
Hinnant describes his work as a visual bridge between the physical sciences and the science of consciousness. Most of his exhibited work is geometrically abstract, using Euclidean geometry as its organizational underpinning; he generates compositions with a compass, a straight edge and a marking instrument, then realizes them as drawings, paintings or sculpture. His imagery draws frequently on the mandala, and his sculptural installations are conceived as distillations of an older body of geometric knowledge and as studies for future public works of art.
Hinnant has completed several major public commissions. His eleven-foot stainless-steel sculpture Together We Rise was installed in Corpening Plaza, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 2014; composed of stacked isosceles triangles, it commemorates the 1913 merger of the towns of Winston and Salem and incorporates quotations from Maya Angelou and Margaret Mead. In 2017 he created the two-story public sculpture Monument to Leadership for the 150th anniversary of Fayetteville State University. In 2018 he was commissioned by the city of Greensboro to design artwork for the Bragg Street segment of the Downtown Greenway, and in 2019–2020 he created A Monument to Dignity and Respect for the Ole Asheboro neighborhood of Greensboro.
His work is held in numerous private and corporate collections across North America, with additional works in Europe and Africa. Public and corporate collections holding his work include Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Piedmont Triad International Airport, Wachovia Bank, Capital Broadcasting Company, Duke University Medical Center, Pfizer, the Miller Brewing Company, the Brandywine Workshop Collection and the Cumberland County Public Library.
Honors
- 1991 – Founding member and first board member of the African American Atelier, Greensboro
- 1994 – North Carolina Artist Fellowship
- 1999 – Featured artist, Round 10 of Project Row Houses, Houston, Texas
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
Hinnant has written that his work seeks to serve as a visual bridge between the physical sciences and the science of consciousness, that the majority of his exhibited work is recognizably geometrically abstract with Euclidean geometry as its organizational underpinning, and that his sculptural installations are distillations of an ancient body of knowledge and sketches for future public works of art.