Growing up in Colorado, Chad Hayward experienced the feeling of openness and expansive space that today influence the Georgia artist’s wide-ranging and interdisciplinary work.
Artist: Born in Summit County, NJ, Hayward moved to Colorado at the age of 7. After high school, he studied fine art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he received his BFA in 2017.
The next year, he earned his MA in studio art from Eastern Illinois University. Hayward moved to Georgia, where he received an MFA in studio art from the University of Georgia in 2023.
Company/studio: Chad Hayward has a home studio in Milton, GA.
In the beginning: He developed an interest in art around middle school out of severe boredom when he began making small drawings in the margins of his notebooks during class. His interest in the arts quickly snowballed in his teenage years.
“Art acted as a form of escapism from the structure of school,” said Hayward. “And I became hungry for more.”
Art & materials: Works in several mediums, including sculpture, drawing, painting, ceramics, fiber and printmaking, using a variety of materials and methods ($200 to $6,000).
Some of his layered and textured 2-D works, with their dots and patterns, resemble natural landscapes and dreamlike settings.
Favorite tools: As a lover of materials and supplies, Hayward has many tools, including: a fresh sheet of Reeves BFK paper, 6b pencil, palette paper, palette knife, small round brush and Golden High flow acrylics.
Influences:
- Art periods/movements: Abstract Expressionism; Color Field Painting; Impressionism; Minimalism; California’s Light and Space; the Finish Fetish style of art; and Dansaekhwa, the Korean monochrome movement.
- Quilts of Gee’s Bend.
- The modernization of the field of ceramic sculpture in the 1950s and 1960s with the likes of Ken Price, Peter Volkous and Ron Nagle.
- Artists: Many, including: Joan Mitchell (brush strokes); Ken Price (luminous and biomorphic sculptures); and Agnes Martin (calm, subtle grids).
- The micro world: things so small we can’t see or measure.
- The macro universe: things so large we cannot comprehend, materials, sounds, pattern, repetition, physical movement and time.
Recent project: New work for “Leisure,” a group exhibit at Kai Lin Art, Atlanta. Through June 6.
Where to buy:
- chadhaywardart.com
- kailin.com. In Atlanta, visit the contemporary gallery, 999 Brady Ave NW, Suite 7.
Connect:
- Instagram: @chadhaywardart
