“Toil: John Hunting Hansen,” through February 27

Exhibit: Through Friday, February 27

Artist Reception and Q&A: Monday, February 16, 2 p.m.

St. Ambrose University's Catich Gallery, 2101 Gaines Street, Davenport IA

With the artist exploring art's role as a record of his own humanity and his fascination with how discarded material can tell the story of one’s life, John Hunting Hansen's exhibition Toil is on display through February 27 at St. Ambrose University's Catich Gallery, Hansen holding a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa, plus a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in sculpture and Bachelor of Science in Anthropology from Utah State University.

In the artist's biography at JohnHuntingHansen.com, he states: "John would describe himself as a farm boy. From a young age he found confidence and a sense of peace working with his hands and doing manual labor. Sensibilities and skills he applies to his craft have foundation in being taught by his father fifty years his senior. John’s undergraduate education in Archeology, led him to gain a new perspective for the value of materials and how they represent information about mortality. His fascination of the discarded and refuse telling the story of one’s life has been a focus of his work. He probably spends too much time pondering what his work would mean if someone dug it up. His education in the arts at Utah State University and the University of Iowa pushed him to explore art’s role in his life as a record of his own humanity."

In Hansen's artist statement, meanwhile, he says: "The dilemma has always been mortality. When I was fifteen, my father was sixty-five. He was in good health but that didn’t mean I wasn’t concerned about his age. It wasn’t something that consumed me because he was not an ordinary retiree. He loved to work and hours and the physicality he exerted while farming was almost unnatural or superhuman. Old men are supposed to slow down– he sped up. Time seemed to have no hold on the man that I gained wisdom from and the value of working with my hands. He, like many farmers, was a jack-of-all-trades and we could fix anything with a small toolbox and a socket set. I don’t recall buying many new materials to build with, everything was repurposed. The skill, the knowledge to make and create from something that was discarded was a daily necessity. He had a comfortable pension that was a result of hard work and education. He could have truly just enjoyed retirement.

"The drive to always be productive and the reward of truly being physically exhausted at the end of the day is something that has been imprinted on me and something I try to emulate. Some lessons were taught by being a farm boy. Despite doing all we could do and seeking help from the veterinarian, animals in our charge did not and could not overcome the inevitability of mortality. I remember vividly when I was twenty-five years old my father sat on a bale of hay to rest and said the words for the first time ‘I am tired.' He obviously was not young but his drive and passion to just do and be constantly productive in nature was finally thwarted by his age. The diagnosis of Parkinson’s soon followed. I find myself depicting the conditions of mortality. In some ways I am trying to understand it and other ways just cope with the realities of it."

A 2 p.m. artist reception and Q&A with John Hunting Hansen will take place in the Catich Gallery of St. Ambrose University's Galvin Fine Arts Center on February 16,, and the Toil exhibit will be on display through February 27. Regular gallery hours are Mondays through Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., admission is free, and more information is available by calling (563-333-6444 and visiting Facebook.com/CatichGallerySAU.