Guide to the Susannah Hays Collection of Artwork and Documents, 1992-2016 M1743
Processed by Tim Noakes
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
2010
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford 94305-6064
specialcollections@stanford.edu
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
Series 1: Glassware 1013745
Box 1
Bottles used for "Empty Bottle" photographs [FRAGILE] 1013521
Box 2
Bottles used for "Empty Bottle" photographs [FRAGILE] 1013523
Series 2: Photographs 1013747
Scope and Contents
All items are framed; one framed photograph per box.
Box 7
"Cross Section Smilax Root" 1013533
Box 8
"Triangle Palm Cross Sections" 1013535
Box 9
"Ivy Leaf (hearts)" 1013537
Box 13
"Hope it's not serious..." 1013547
Box 14
"One is of the Spirit..." 1013549
Box 15, Item 1
Egypt: color portrait of Susannah Hays taken by Matt Phillips in the Sultan Hannan Masque, 1992 1013933
Box 15, Item 2
Egypt: Pots (black/white print) 1013935
Box 15, Item 3
Egypt: Ladder (black/white print) 1013937
Box 15, Item 4
Egypt: Girl, Man, and Donkey (black/white print) 1013939
Box 15, Item 5
Egypt: Bread for Sale (black/white print) 1013941
Box 15, Item 6
Egypt: Mohamed Ali Mosque (black/white print) 1013943
Box 15, Item 7
Egypt: Sugarcane (black/white print) 1013945
Box 15, Item 8
Egypt: Meeting at the Market (black/white print) 1013947
Box 16
"Fallen Sky" (1 of 2) 1013553
Box 17
"Fallen Sky" (2 of 2) 1013555
Box 20
Pinhole Views of the San Francisco Arts Institute (1 of 6) 1013561
Box 21
Pinhole Views of the San Francisco Arts Institute (2 of 6) 1013563
Box 22
Pinhole Views of the San Francisco Arts Institute (3 of 6) 1013565
Box 23
Pinhole Views of the San Francisco Arts Institute (4 of 6) 1013567
Box 24
Pinhole Views of the San Francisco Arts Institute (5 of 6) 1013569
Box 25
Pinhole Views of the San Francisco Arts Institute (6 of 6) 1013571
Box 39
"Empty Bottle #1" 1013719
Box 30
"Empty Bottle #3" (Bernard Cells) 1013701
Box 38
"Empty Bottle #5" 1013717
Box 33
"Empty Bottle #6" 1013707
Box 32
"Empty Bottle #7" 1013705
Box 34
"Empty Bottle #9" 1013709
Box 36
"Empty Bottle #10" (Pepsi Pair) 1013713
Box 31
"Empty Bottle #11" 1013703
Box 29
"Empty Bottle #12" 1013699
Box 37
"Empty Bottle #13" 1013715
Box 35
"Empty Bottle #14" 1013711
Box 53
"Empty Bottle #15" (Balkite) 1013923
Box 43
"Tree Outside My Window" 1013727
Box 45
"Skeletal Leaves - Lace" (1 of 6) 1013731
Box 46
"Skeletal Leaves" (2 of 6) 1013733
Box 47
"Skeletal Leaves - Forest Map" (3 of 6) 1013735
Box 48
"Skeletal Leaves" (4 of 6) 1013737
Box 49
"Skeletal Leaves - Eucalyptus" (5 of 6) 1013739
Box 50
"Skeletal Leaves - Aspen" (6 of 6) 1013741
frame 54
"Skeletal Leaves - Iris print" 1013925
frame 55
Egypt: Pots (framed) 1013927
frame 56
One Sun - One Apple - One Day 1013929
Series 3: Archival Material 1013749
Scope and Contents
This series 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 -- 11 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.
Box 51
Unbound volume: collection of sheets of text pages from "Egypt" (used when exhibiting the book under glass) 1013743
Box 52, folder 1
"Between Cedar and Vine": original fragments 1013753
Box 52, folder 2
"Between Cedar and Vine": original fragments 1013755
Box 52, folder 3
"Between Cedar and Vine": original fragments 1013757
Box 52, folder 4
"Between Cedar and Vine": original publication 1013759
Box 52, folder 6
"Egypt": journal (Timeless World) 1013763
Box 52, folder 7
Susannah Hays: early portrait ("portrait of a young artist -- an alter ego at the time") 1013765
Series 4: Accession 2011-143 1694543
Item 1
Skeletal leaves : silver-sun prints (2), unframed, 1998 1694545
Item 2
Oak leaf : cyanotype, framed, 1998 1694547
Item 3
Vietnamese girl : gelatin silver print, matted, 1986 1694549
Item 4
One sun - one apple - one day (2 sheets, 14 x 140"), unframed 1694551
Box 1-2
Series 5: Accession 2012-068 2396978
Scope and Contents
The 2012 accession (2 manuscript boxes), includes material from Hays' project, "Science imagined," and exhibition of artists'
books held in October, 1996 at the Berkeley Art Center. It also includes 2 audiocassettes of Helen and Newton Harrison: "Meditations
on the Sacramento River, the Delta and Bays of San Francisco," 1977, and "Ecological artists: the ecological argument on process,
a case for ecosystems as a viable art form," undated (box 2, folder 12).
Box 54
Series 6: 2014 Accessions (accn 2014-061, accn 2014-062, accn 2014-063, accn 2014-064) "Pigment Prints" 2396979
Scope and Contents
The materials consist of four archival pigment prints in one flat box: "Bloodline" taken in Copper Flat, Nevada, 2014; "Nature's
writing desk" taken in Osterheide Wald, Germany, 2013; "The Penitente Morada" taken in Abiquiu, New Mexico, 2014; and "Cathedral
Forest" taken in Einemhof Forest, Germany, 2013.
Series 7: 2016 Accessions (accn 2016-021, accn 2016-044, accn 2016-148, accn 2016-187, accn 2016-236)
2013-2016
Scope and Contents
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.
Subseries A : Prints from Hays' "Mirror Landscape" series
2013
Box Accn 2016-021 Flat Box 4
Box Accn 2016-021 Flat Box 2
Box Accn 2016-021 Flat Box 3
Box Accn 2016-148 Flat Box 1
Box Accn 2016-044 Flat Box 2
Box Accn 2016-044 Flat Box 1
Box Accn 2016-021 Flat Box 1
Subseries B: Accession 2016-187
1998-2014
Box Accn 2016-187 Flat Box 1, folder 1
Ink Pot, 1999, and Vessel, 1998
Box Accn 2016-187 Flat Box 1, folder 2
Box Accn 2016-187 Flat Box 1, folder 3
Pinhole San Francisco Art Institute
2002
Box Accn 2016-187 Flat Box 1, folder 4
Box Accn 2016-187 Flat Box 1, folder 5
Aquileia Archeological Museum
2013
Subseries C: Accession 2016-236
Box Accn 2016-236 Flat Box 1, folder 1
Box Accn 2016-236 Flat Box 1, folder 1
Isola Madonna del Monte
2013
Box Accn 2016-236 Flat Box 1, folder 2
Box Accn 2016-236 Flat Box 1, folder 2
Box Accn 2016-236 Flat Box 1, folder 3
Box Accn 2016-236 Flat Box 1, folder 3
Box Accn 2016-236 Flat Box 1, folder 4
Box Accn 2016-236 Flat Box 1, folder 4
Series 8: 2018 Accessions (accn 2018-022, accn 2018-254)
2016
Box Accn 2018-022 Flat Box 1
Moon house
2016
Physical Description: 5 item(s)
Scope and Contents
Moon house, 2016, Cedar Mesa, Utah (Bears Ears area); edition 1/15; archival pigment prints on museo silver rag, 17 x 22 inches.
Box Accn 2018-022 Flat Box 1
Birthing mother
2016
Scope and Contents
Birthing mother, 2016, Rock Canyon, AZ, edition 1/15; archival pigment on museo silver rag, 17 x 22 inches.
map-folder 55 Accession 2018-254
Moon house, 2 prints
2016
Physical Description: 0.4 Linear Feet
Series 9: Accession 2019-233
Box 1
Mappa Mundi, framed with optium
2003
Box 1, folder 1-3
Sky Leaves 1; Sky Leaves 2; Sky Leaves 3; 3 gelatin silver prints
1998
Series 10: 2019 Accessions (accn 2019-373, accn 2019-374, accn 2019-420)
Box 56, folder 1
Mesa Verde, door spruce tree house
2016-04-01
Box 56, folder 1
Mesa Verde, interior spruce tree house, [no. 1 and no. 2]
2016-04-01
Box 56, folder 2
Mesa Verde, interior spruce tree house, [no. 3 and no. 4]
2016-04-01
Box 56, folder 2
Mesa Verde, walking [tree house]
2016-04-01
Box 56, folder 2
Mesa Verde, walking to spruce tree house
2016-04-01
Box 56, folder 3
Chaco interior "golden door"
2016-04-01
Box 56, folder 3
Chaco interior (5 prints)
2016-04-01
Box 56, folder 4
Chaco exterior (5 prints)
2016-04-01
Box 56, folder 5-6
Woodland trail, from the Assisi forest series, no 1-10 of series of 10 archival prints
2018
Series 11: Accession 2023-169
Box 57
7 prints of the Bisti Badlands/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area
2023
Series 12. Accession 2023-272
