Maren Hassinger is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice spans sculpture, installation, performance, printmaking, and video. Born in Los Angeles, she studied dance at Bennington College before earning an MFA in fiber arts from UCLA in 1973. That dual training in movement and material continues to shape her art, which often blurs distinctions between natural and industrial, organic and manufactured. Since the 1970s, Hassinger has explored identity, ecology, race, gender, and community through forms that echo the cycles of growth, decay, and renewal.

Her innovative use of materials, including wire rope, plastic bags, newspapers, leaves, and branches, bridges the gap between industry and nature, underscoring the tension and interdependence between the two. She knots, braids, weaves, and suspends these elements in ways that recall both choreographed gesture and organic process. This sense of flow and movement is directly linked to her early background in dance, as is the participatory and performative quality of many of her installations.

Across five decades, Hassinger has extended her practice into collaborative and socially engaged projects, often inviting community members to help create installations or participate in performances. You will find Hassinger's work in the permanent collections of the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture, Baltimore, MD; California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Portland Museum of Art, Portland, OR;  Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY; Williams College Art Museum, Williamstown, MA; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; ahd the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY.

Photo Credit: Don Stahl

Selected Exhibitions

Solo

MAREN HASSINGER: On Dangerous Ground, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA, 1981

MAREN HASSINGER 1972-1991, Hillwood Art Museum, Long Island University, Brookville NY, 1991

Maren Hassinger, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, 2000

MAREN HASSINGER: A Retrospective, Spelman College, Atlanta, GA, 2014

Maren Hassinger: The Spirit of Things, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA, 2018

Maren Hassinger: Nature, Sweet Nature, Dia Beacon, Beacon, NY (long-term installation), 2024

Group

Beyond 1984: Contemporary Perspectives on American Art: an exhibition of Afro-American artists, Trisolini Gallery of Ohio University, Athens, 1984

The Printmaking Workshop: Bob Blackburn's Collection, Cleveland Institute of Art, OH, 1992

Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African-American Women Artists, Spelman College, Atlanta, GA, 1996

Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960–1980, MoMA PS1, New York, NY (traveling), 2014

We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85, Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY, 2017

Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2023