Artwork copyright James Lee Hansen. Original 1977 installation. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission (black and white photo).

Artwork copyright James Lee Hansen. Original 1977 installation. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission (black and white photo).

Artwork copyright James Lee Hansen. Original 1977 installation. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission (black and white photo).

Artwork copyright James Lee Hansen. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2014 (detail).

Explorer, 1976

James Lee Hansen
(American, born 1925)

Location: Washington State Arts Commission, Sunnyside

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Explorer is a bronze sculpture created by artist James Hansen. It is part of his body of figurative work. This piece explores our scientific development. Each hand of the figure holds symbolic forms. He notes that the hands 'incorporate graphic interpretation of scientific formulary and symbols in both the biological and mathematical sciences. I would hope to show that, at this point in history, we have split the atom and embarked on interplanetary travel and have an understanding of the genetic processes."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Sunnyside School District.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Celebrated artist James Lee Hansen creates figurative and abstract sculptures. He has lived and worked in the Battle Ground area of Southwestern Washington since the 1950s.

Hansen was born in Tacoma, Western Washington in 1925. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II (1939-45) in the South Pacific. He used the GI Bill to study art at the Portland Art Museum School (now the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon) and graduated in 1950. Bronze sculptures quickly became his main focus, and he built his own foundry and developed a hands-on approach to bronze casting.

Hansen’s sculptures are included in many museum collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., and the Portland Art Museum (Oregon). He also taught at Portland State University for 26 years, among other universities, and was an influential teacher and mentor.