Biography
Scope and Content
Access
Publication Rights
Acquisition Information
Processing Note
Preferred Citation
Related Archival Materials
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Susannah Hays : artwork and documents
Creator:
Hays, Susannah
source:
Hays, Susannah
Identifier/Call Number: M1743
Identifier/Call Number: 9763
Physical Description:
44 Linear Feet
(2 box, 2 cartons, 65 flat boxes, 1 map folder)
Date (inclusive): 1992-2023
Abstract: Collection contains photographs and documents from artist, Susannah Hays.
Physical Location: Special Collections and University Archives materials are stored offsite and must be paged 36-48 hours in advance. For more
information on paging collections, see the department's website: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/spc.html.
Biography
Susannah Hays (born, September 12, 1959) is an American artist and educator practicing in the fields of philosophy, contemporary
photography and book arts. While she is especially known for her work with cameraless and 19th Century processes, her creative
work expands to realms of experimentation in all visual media. She teaches courses that focus on aesthetics in art practice,
the embodied mind, constructions of space, topologies, artist's books and visual autobiography.
Hays was born in Boston Massachusetts and raised in Connecticut where she lived until she moved to the San Francisco Bay
Area in 1978 to attend Mills College. She received a BA in Philosophy from Mills, followed by an MFA in Photography from San
Francisco Art Institute and an MA in Design from University of California, Berkeley where she continued her PhD Interdisciplinary
Studies. While earning her MA, she received the Eisner Prize for Photography. At the Art Institute, she studied with Doug
Hall and Ann Chamberlain. At UC Berkeley she studied with philosopher Alva Nöe, poet Lyn Hejinian, painter Tony Dubovsky and
filmmaker Trinh T. Minh-ha. In 2012, she moved from Berkeley to Santa Fe, New Mexico where she currently resides.
From 1990 to 2004 Hays was the sole proprietor of Works on Paper, a conservation laboratory preserving works of art, as well
as designing and producing artist's books. In 1996, she curated the national book art exhibition Science Imagined for the
Berkeley Art Center. She joined the faculty of the San Francisco Art Institute from 2002-2012 and has also taught at California
College of the Art, University of California Berkeley, San Francisco Center for the Book, Shenkar College of Art and Design,
Israel, and Leuphana University, Germany. She is currently contributing faculty at Santa Fe University of Art and Design.
From 2000 to 2010, she was represented by Scott Nichols Gallery in San Francisco and Donna Seager Gallery in Marin, California.
She is presently represented by Photo-Eye Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her work has been included in numerous solo and
group exhibitions and featured in various articles and reviews such as the New Mexico Museum of Art, Directly from Nature;
Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, Verniciatura; None-Such Space, Nature Word ~ Verbe Nature; Townsend Center for the Humanities,
Everyday Constellations; and Artists Television Access, Penumbra.
Scope and Content
This collection of her work includes: 8 EGYPT gelatin silver prints -- 1 journal, related to EGYPT --7 SKELLETAL LEAVES prints
(6 Vandyke prints, 1 Iris print) -- 1 ONE SUN, ONE APPLE, ONE DAY, framed -- 3 P.O.P. microscope images -- 12 EMPTY BOTTLE
SERIES gelatin silver prints -- 1 SEED LEAF gelatin silver photogram -- 2 FALLEN SKY gelatin silver prints -- 6 P.O.P. prints
-- 6 EVERYDAY CONSTELLATIONS gelatin silver prints -- 6 PINHOLE VIEWS OF THE SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE pinhole light drawings
-- 3 BETWEEN CEDAR AND VINE gelatin silver prints -- 2 digital images. Also included are the original glass pieces used for
the EMPTY BOTTLE series and miscellaneous archival documents, including all the original fragments used for the publication
of "Between Cedar and Vine."
Addenda (accession 2011-143): 1 very large print (14 x 140 inches), 1 framed print, 1 matted photograph, and 2 unframed prints.
Addenda (accessions 2012-068; 2012-070): "Science imagined" materials and exhibition of artists' books held in October, 1996
at the Berkeley Art Center. Also includes 2 audiocassettes of Helen and Newton Harrison.
Addenda (accessions 2014-061, 2014-062, 2014-063 and 2014-064): Bloodline"; "Nature's writing desk"; "The Penitente Morada";
and "Cathedral Forest".
Addenda (accessions 2016-021, 2016-044, 2016-148, 2016-187, and 2016-236): The 2016 accessions include prints from the "Mirror
Landscape" series, "Invisible Cosmos" series as well as prints of: urns from the Aquileia Archaeological Museum; Santa Rosa
de Lima in Rio Chama Abiquiu, New Mexico; leaves and plants; San Francisco Art Institute; and vessels; trees; and other materials
from nature.
Addenda (accessions 2018-022, 2018-254): Moon house and birthing mother.
Addenda (accessions 2019-233, 2019-373, 2019-374, 2019-420): Mappa Mundi, sky leaves, Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, and Assisi
forest series.
Addenda (accession 2023-169): 7 prints of the Bisti Badlands/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area.
Addenda (accession 2023-272): 1 print titled "Flowering cosmos", 2021.
Access
Open for research; material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.
Publication Rights
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the
Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94304-6064. Consent
is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/pubserv/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
Acquisition Information
Purchased, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2023; gift of Susannah Hays, 2012. Accessions 2010-057, 2011-143, 2012-068,
2012-070, 2014-061, 2014-062, 2014-063, 2014-064, 2016-021, 2016-044, 2016-148, 2016-187, 2016-236, 2018-022, 2018-254, 2019-233,
2019-373, 2019-374, 2019-420, and 2023-169.
Processing Note
Collection was processed by Tim Noakes.
Preferred Citation
Susannah Hays : artwork and documents, M1743. Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Related Archival Materials
Collections (in addition to Stanford University)
The New York Public Library Spencer Collection New York, New York
Mills College Library Heller Rare Book Room Oakland, California
Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Texas
Paul Sack Collection San Francisco, California
Santa Barbara Museum of Art Santa Barbara, California
Stanford University Cecil H. Green Library Stanford, California
University of California Berkeley Environmental Design Library
Yale Art Gallery New Haven, Connecticut
Yale Haas Book Art Collection New Haven, Connecticut
Yale Beinecke Library of American Literature New Haven, Connecticut
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photography.
Women photographers
Hays, Susannah