Artist Bio
HJ Slider was born in 1951 in central Michigan into a large, creative family where she inherited a love for making beautiful things from a carpenter father and a love of story-telling from a poet/essayist mother. She is forever grateful for a European-born aunt who provided a wider cultural outlook, many museum and gallery trips, a first paid commission and continued artistic aid and encouragement.
She received a B.S. in Art Education from Central Michigan University in 1975, where she also spent many hours developing an interest in clothing design and construction. After several years teaching in rural south-central Michigan, she pursued a M.S. in Art Education from Michigan State University, completing her studies in 1979.
Lack of employment in her beloved Michigan sent Slider on a decade of learning and teaching adventures in Anchorage and Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. Although returning to the state every summer for family, study and art-making, she experienced astoundingly diverse artistic influences in Anchorage in the 1980’s –indigenous and international, traditional and contemporary. After years of working with coiled and woven fiber sculpture and found-object collage, she began in 1990 to create abstract and stylized figures. A permanent move to the Grand Rapids area came in 1992.
Slider taught elementary art for Kentwood Public Schools and art education courses at Aquinas College, places she considered marvelous environments for teaching, learning, and artifacting. With the exception of small group workshops and one-on-one private lessons, she has retired from teaching. Her focus at this time is the activity in her home studio on the Thornapple River in Caledonia, Michigan. She divides her time between that location and Mesa, Arizona, absorbing a new set of cultural and environmental influences–the American southwest– with her biggest fan, co-conspirator and husband, Stephen R.
Professional Experience
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, Michigan. June, 2005 to 2015
Art Teacher, Kentwood Public Schools, Kentwood, Michigan. 1992 to 20012
Art Resource Teacher, Anchorage School District, Anchorage, Alaska. 1983-199
AWARDS AND HONORS:
Presenter, Michigan State University MAEA Summer Institute, 2005
Presenter, Aquinas College, summer professional development, 2012 and 2013
Presenter/Member, Michigan Art Education Association, 1992-2016
Founding Member, WHAT Group art consortium, 1997 to present
Fine Arts Representative, Alaska State Department of Education, 1988-90
Member, Board of Directors, Alaska Alliance for Arts Education, 1988-92
SELECTED WORKS:
Michigan Education Acquisition Show, Purchase Awards, 2007,2014, 2015,2016
ArtPrize, Grand Rapids, 2009 to 2013, 2017
Fountain Street Church Keeler Gallery, solo show, 2006
Aquinas College Faculty Exhibition, 2007 to 2016
Palate to Palette, Traverse City, Mi 2018
Body and Soul, Ann Arbor, Mi 2017
Location, Location, Location; Lowell, Mi 2017
works held in private collections across US and Canada
CURATORIAL PROJECTS:
ArtPrize at Cathedral Square, Grand Rapids, 2014
Renewed in Word, Faith & Grace, Grand Rapids, 2016
ART EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS:
Presenter, The Art and Mission of Corita Kent
Presenter, Aesthetic Scanning
Presenter, Art Elements and Principals for Viewers
Education
MA
Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. 1979
Art Education
Aesthetics and Art Appreciation, Fiber Arts, Art Methods for Elementary Teachers
BS
Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 1975
Education
Painting, Art Education, Clothing Design and Construction
Contact Information
Phone
(616) 891-1754