D.J. Haslett
Artist Biography
D.J. Haslett is an award-winning artist, photographer, published poet and musician. Along with being a member of the International Sculpture Center, he is a member of The Trenton Artists Workshop Association, and currently serves as the Second Vice President of the New Jersey Poetry Society. He works at the Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ in the admissions department where he is a docent, is involved in docent training, assists in special events, workshops and art educational programs among other duties.
Starting his art career in 1999, Haslett, who is self-taught, has 11 solo shows to his credit, has had work accepted in 18 juried shows including works accepted in the Bucks Magazine “It’s About Art Exhibit” at the Bucks Gallery of Fine Art, The Ellarslie Open at the Trenton City Museum, The Da Vinci Art Gallery’s “Cut it Up” exhibition in Philadelphia, Gallery 125 in Trenton and The Mercer County Community College Gallery. His work has also been exhibited at the Prallsville Mills, Artworks and Sculpture Association of New Jersey invitational exhibitions along with numerous member and group shows.
Artist’s Statement:
“I have worked in many artistic mediums, both visual and performance, for close to a decade. I come from a long-line of welders, carpenters, tool-and-die makers, mechanics and men who worked in other building trades.The found objects I am strongly drawn to, rusted metals, old tools, car parts, weathered wood, rusted hardware and other items of this nature, I believe, reflect this part of my past. I worked in factories in my youth, with big, metallic machines stamping out metal parts; the machines, as I think back, remind me of big, metal sculptures with interesting, unusual shapes. These found objects may lie around my studio for years until their ‘personalities,’ as I call them, begin to reveal themselves.
Recently, I have also have been creating Abstract Expressionist paintings which turns out to be a great compliment to my assemblage and mixed-media work.
Life should be experienced with child-like curiosity…constantly experimenting - try new ideas, continually learning and studying and we should look below the superficial to the true beauty beneath.”
E-mail: d.j.haslett@verizon.net
Phone: 609-462-9124