Timothy Hasenstein (born November 19, 1940) is an American painter, sculptor and educator who was influenced by the New York School of Abstract Expressionists. Hasenstein was a protégé of Milton Resnick, who was artist-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison while he was doing graduate work.

Born and raised in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Hasenstein grew to favor nature’s icons; bones and branches and other found objects which play a predominant role in his art. Hasenstein gives sculptural form to the materials he uses from nature. His sculptures are very organic, made from materials found on walks, hikes and adventures.

While at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Hasenstein developed a unique painting style he calls Abstract Impressionism, reflecting Monet’s late French Impressionistic influence as well as his mentor Resnick’s Post Abstract Expressionism.

Rudolf Arnheim author of Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye was also a friend and mentor of Hasenstein.

Hasensteins work can be found in private and corporate collections, mainly in the midwest. In 2007 Hasenstein was featured in the SPNN cable special Lowertown TV. Hasenstein is currently represented by adjoining galleries Seedboat Gallery (2-D) and Sterling Fine Art (3-D) in Silver City, New Mexico. After residing in the Lowertown Lofts, a community of artists in St. Paul, Minnesota for several years, he relocated to Silver City in the autumn of 2008, then in 2022 has settled in Tucson, Arizona.

Spirit Vessels Statement

The sculptures are very organic, made from materials that I have found on my walks, hikes and adventures. To an extent the bones and wood in the spirit vessels are paying tribute to how beautiful they actually appear in nature and pay respect and homage to the beauty that they once were. The ladders symbolize climbing to a higher spirit or gaining access to places of safety and security. Though I have a sophisticated arts background, I prefer to approach my work as if I were a primitive.

I give form to the materials I use from nature. Putting these objects together is to me the ultimate creative process. When I come upon things in nature that I respond to, they strike me as more beautiful than anything I have even seen in a museum. It is obvious that these “works of art” are loaded with spirit and were created out of a ned - a primal obsession. Icons of nature and the civilizations that have come and gone provide me with my inspiration.

~Timothy Hasenstein