Bea Hurd

Bea Hurd is a BFA student studying Sculpture Intermedia at the University of Utah. She has shown art at such places as the Springville Museum of Art, The Salt Lake City Public Library, The Rio Gallery, and Gittins Gallery. She was the recipient of the public art grant for Katherine’s Courtyard and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities grant in the category of fine art.

Artist Statement
I take objects of personal fascination and bring them into an unconventional mode to answer what confuses me about my identity. Creating objects through repurposing everyday materials, I create a facade of functionality and interaction. Whether that be through tactility or a visceral response, it is not the actual interaction that concerns me, but the idea of interaction. I take objects that speak of mundanity and juxtapose them with an unhinged and sensualized tone. My work oscillates around concepts of gender positioning and sexuality. I aim to explore topics of feminism and womanhood specifically through materiality and how my own environment effects and influences such. I focus my practice around synthetic, mass-produced, consumer materials. I find that the topics I concentrate on do not manifest themselves organically, they are socially and culturally taught to me, and as such, these topics call for materials that mimic their inorganic nature.