Haniel Wides
They/Them
Exhibits and Residencies:
2020 Haraizumi Art Project. Shizuoka, Japan.
Remotely participated by designing a large-scale outdoor sculpture that was constructed by volunteers and children in the community for Haraizumi Art Days, an annual, month-long exhibition and art festival, in the village of Haraizumi, Shizuoka Japan. HAP works to revitalize the region by activating spaces that have fallen into disuse, building connections and providing opportunities for local artists, businesses and residents, artists across Japan, and around the world. For a full artist statement, see manibus.studio/whyarainbow
2019 Haraizumi Art Project. Shizuoka, Japan.
Participated in a six-week fully-funded art residency which culminated in Haraizumi Art Days. I made six wooden sculptures and dozens of unique woodblock prints that were exhibited in an old temple that had closed due to dwindling patronage as families moved to the town over the years. The sculptures were crystallizations of the landscape of the village. Each woodblock print portrays the hands of resident and visiting artists, neighbors, and local business owners whom I befriended during my stay. For a full artist statement, see manibus.studio/outlines
2018 Commune Diverge Shift Connect: A Press Press Chronicle. The Institute for Expanded Research and the George Peabody Library, Baltimore, MD.
2016 XXChange: A Multi-Disciplinary Exhibit of Womxn Artists and Makers. Area 405. Group show. Baltimore, MD. (Organized and co-curated)
2016 Made In Baltimore Maker Showcase. Second Chance. Group show. Baltimore, MD.
2015 NativeSpecies. Black Rock Center for the Arts. Group show. Germantown, MD.
2012 Sap, Straddle, and Joy. Wayfarer's Gallery. Group show. Brooklyn, NY.
Awards & Media Features:
2023, Queering Wood Craft: Eroticism and Craft, an LGBTQIA+ Woodworkers Roundtabe, Museum for Art in Wood. I developed, curated, and led this two-part artist talk and open discussion.
2023, Michael Puryear Scholarship, Furniture Society. Scholarship to attend the 2023 Furniture Society Conference in New Orleans.
2020 Institute for Expanded Research & Press Press, Participated in the creation of the “Toolkit for Cooperative, Collective, & Collaborative Cultural Work” https://toolkit.press/
2017-2020 Why We Work. Baltimore Museum of Industry, Baltimore, MD.
2017 Women in Manual Work Oral History. Interview http://www.wmwoh.com/
2016 Make Magazine. MakerSpotlight. Profile.
2016 Recipient of Grit Fund Grant. A $6,000 grant to organize a month-long exhibit of 30 woman-identifying and gender-variant artists in and around Baltimore, several pop-up markets and five free craft-based, skill-sharing workshops all featuring and catering to woman-identifying, gender variant, and AFAB people, as well as a day-long symposium.
2016 Baltimore Magazine. “The New Luddites.”
https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/community/more-millennials-are-embracing-their-inner-artisan/
Work Experience:
2022 - Carpenter, E. Penderleith and Co. Hudson, NY.
A full-time position as a carpenter. I worked on a variety of large-scale, high end furniture for private and commercial clients.
2020 - 21 Shop Manager, Station North Tool Library. Baltimore, MD.
Operating on a sliding scale for as little as $15/year to members, we are a not-for-profit lending library for tools and equipment. We also have a woodshop, metalshop, and craft room open to members bi-weekly and hold classes in home repair and crafts. This part-time position involves managing the shop spaces, repairing and maintaining equipment, preparing materials for classes, overseeing a crew of volunteers who monitor Open Shop and an intern who helps clean and upkeep the spaces.
2020 Freelance art and furniture fabrication.
Design/build woodwork, art fabrication, TIG and MIG welding, light duty interior and exterior carpentry, antique furniture repair and restoration, and probably a whole lot more.
2016 - 2019 Manual Operations Manager. Open Works. Baltimore, MD.
With the mission to make tools, technology, and the knowledge to use them accessible to all, Open Works is one of the largest non-profit makerspaces in the US. My full-time position as Manual Operations Manager involved researching, purchasing, installing, operating, and repairing machines for digital fabrication, textiles, wood and metalworking. I designed the layout of the shop spaces, dust collection systems and wiring. I hired and trained a diverse and skilled team of 17 technicians to oversee and maintain a safe, helpful, inclusive, and clean workshop environment. I also supervised the shops’ equipment, staff, and classes.
Classes and Teaching Positions:
2015-2021 Designed and taught woodworking classes for Station North Tool Library, including: Picture Frames, Intro to Hand Tools, and Tool Sharpening.
2017-2020 Designed all certification and project-based classes for the wood and metal shops at Open Works. These classes include Metal 1: Cutting and Shaping. Metal 2: Sheet Metal. MIG + TIG welding. CNC Plasma Cutter. Wood 1: Cutting and Shaping. Wood 2: Milling. Senior Woodworking. Woodworking Foundations. Intro to Staked Furniture. Make Your Own Pour Over Stand, Make Your Own Wooden Bench.
2019 OUT Maine. Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. A weekend-long program sponsored by OUT Maine, recruited some of the country’s most revered queer craftspeople to facilitate a variety of workshops for disadvantaged LGBTQIA Maine youth. Sylvie Rosenthal invited me to be her assistant teacher in a woodcarving class for this program with over 60 youth in attendance. For the denouement, the carvings our class made were assembled into a giant charm bracelet which was draped over the woodshop.
2019 As part of my responsibilities at Open Works, I wrote and designed lesson plans and hand-out guides for about 20 different classes. https://www.openworksbmore.org/resources/
Education:
2024 Cabinetry and Furniture Making Certificate, North Bennet Street School. Boston, MA.
2018 Fundamentals of welding and intermediate TIG qualification program for AWS D17.1 code fusion welding for aerospace application. Earlbeck Gases and Technology, Baltimore, MD.
2012 B.F.A, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, NY.
2010 International Exchange Student in the Department of Sculpture, Kyoto Seika University, Kyoto, Japan.
Other Past Clients and Collaborators:
A Workshop Of Our Own, Badlands Unlimited, Bottoms Up Bagels, Baltimore Youth Kinetic Energy Collective, Baltimore Office for Promotion & the Arts, Camp Small, City Seeds, Color Wheel Printing, Dovetail Restoration, Fruit Camp, Greenmount West Community Center, Jessie and Katey, Jubilee Arts, Kimi Hanauer, Larder Baltimore, Milkweed Ceramics, Made in Baltimore, Morgan State University, MotorHouse, Museum for Art in Wood, NIMetal Designs, Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center, Press Press, Room & Board, Queerskate Baltimore, YLLEAD.