Caroline Hatfield’s practice utilizes sculpture, installation, and mixed media to engage with materiality and environment. After completing a Sculpture BFA at The University of Tennessee, she earned an MFA in Interdisciplinary Studio Art from Towson University. Hatfield’s work has been reviewed or included in numerous publications, such as The Washington Post and Alluvian Environmental Journal. She has exhibited artwork nationally and internationally at venues such as The Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC, The Delaware Contemporary in Wilmington, DE, and the CICA Museum in Gimpo, South Korea. Recent solo exhibitions include "Foresights and Futures" at VisArts in Rockville, MD and “Impart” at Lincoln Memorial University in Cumberland Gap, TN. Among her awards and honors, she is a recipient of the Trawick Contemporary Art Prize (2018), a South Arts Cross-Sector Impact Grant (2020), and a Mississippi Arts Commission Visual Artist Fellowship Grant (2023). As Assistant Professor and Area Coordinator of Sculpture at Mississippi State University, she lives and works in Starkville, MS.
Photograph by Megan Bean.
Through sculpture, installation, and images, I explore our perception of landscape as medium and nature as commodity. Observing land use and extractive practices in southern Appalachia has shaped my work to be very materially driven. This influence converges with my interest in science fiction, which deeply informs my creative process as I consider sci-fi tropes, frameworks, and extrapolations. By juxtaposing moon rocks, Martian terrain, coal waste, driftwood, and geological samples, I connect worlds both real and imagined. I describe my studio practice as resourceful - I primarily use reclaimed and repurposed objects and materials from my daily life, from specific origins with conceptual relevance, or from the wider ecology of the sculpture shop I share with my students.
Two strains of thought have emerged in my recent projects. One focuses on materials and concepts associated with near-future climate engineering and celestial resource extraction. The other engages with nature tourism—such as parks, artificial lakes, and preserves — while drawing inspiration from current scientific research that reveals how plants and trees exhibit sophisticated forms of agency through cooperation and communication. In both strains, I consider our past, present, and future relationship to the environment, while questioning the limits of human understanding, consumption, and intervention.