Hana Ward

New Era (vigna unguiculata), 2024

Hana Ward has been working with clay for the past eight years, beginning with small vessels and bowls before moving into more figurative sculptures. New Era (vigna unguiculata) (2024) is a functional lamp comprised of a custom lamp shade and lamp parts emerging from a ceramic base. With tender eyes, a round collared shirt, and her hair pulled back into a double bun, the hand-built ceramic base is in the form of a bust—a sculpture of a woman’s head, neck, and shoulders—a tradition traced back to ancient Greco-Roman depictions of philosophers, politicians, scientists, and artists. New Era (vigna unguiculata) is named for a variety of cowpea, which Ward notes is listed in George Washington Carver's Bulletin No. 35, "How to Grow the Cow Pea and 40 Ways of Preparing It as A Table Delicacy." Born into slavery in 1864, Carver was an inventor, artist, educator, and agricultural scientist—a pioneer of plant-based engineering and one of the nation’s earliest proponents of sustainable agriculture. While teaching at the Tuskegee Institute, Carver wrote and distributed a series of publications that covered topics such as farm management, crop rotation, and the uses of plants. Currently, Ward is included in a group exhibition inspired by the legacies of Carver titled World Without End: The George Washington Carver Project on view at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles, CA through March 2025.

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