Alternation: Kristie Hansen

Gallery Hours: Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays 12-5 pm and by appointment
Opening Reception, Saturday, March 14th, 1-4 pm
Artist’s Talk, Saturday, April 11th

Transmission Gallery is pleased to present Alternation, recent work by Kristie Hansen, now featured in our Small Space.

Drawing on her love of second-hand fashion, Hansen sources discarded garments and accessories to construct unconventional, layered sculptures. In Alternation, she transforms a single, deeply personal object into a series of intimate sculptural forms. These works originate from a brown suede jacket that once belonged to the artist’s mother—an item passed on during a period of family transition marked by downsizing, aging, and the loss of a long-held home.

Rather than preserving the garment intact, Hansen dismantles and reshapes it, allowing one article of clothing to generate multiple sculptural works. The suede is folded, stitched, and formed into soft geometric shapes that retain traces of their earlier life while becoming something entirely new. Beads taken from her mother’s jewelry are embedded along the seams; introducing variation within repetition and suggesting the individuality of memories that emerge from shared histories.

Through this process, Alternation reframes a private inheritance as a broader reflection on transformation. The work speaks to experiences familiar across generations: the passing down of belongings, the reshaping of family narratives, and the quiet negotiation between holding on and letting go.

Rather than presenting change as a singular event, Hansen treats it as gradual and ongoing. One garment becomes many objects; one story unfolds into multiple forms. In this way, Alternation approaches personal history not as something fixed, but as material that can be continually rearranged—an evolving structure shaped by resilience, adaptation, and persistence over time