"TOM HANNAN: Paintings and Jazz Album Covers," the first-ever exhibition featuring Tom Hannan's abstract canvases and graphic design work, will be on view at All Souls Church, 29 South Street in West Brattleboro, Vermont, from September 19 through the end of October.
Tom Hannan (1927-2000) studied painting at The Hans Hofmann School in 1950-53. While he exhibited his paintings at the artist-run James Gallery in New York City, he became a jazz aficionado and designed album covers for the jazz record labels Prestige, Columbia, Blue Note, Bethlehem, Jubilee and Roulette, among others. Hannan's designs incorporated his own paintings, drawings, typographical arrangements, and photographs of musicians taken at the Rudy van Gelder recording studio in Hackensack, N.J. He also collaborated with the experimental photographer Scott Hyde and with illustrator Tomi Ungerer. Hannan's cover designs, along with those of his peers Reid Miles and John Hermansader, have been published in several anthologies devoted to jazz album cover art.
Tom set up a graphic design studio in Guilford, Vermont, after he and his wife Alison bought a house there in 1959. To deliver work on tight deadlines to clients in New York, Hannan would drive two miles down Packer Corners Road to meet a UPS truck on its morning trip north along Weatherhead Hollow Road, destination Brattleboro, and pick up a package containing components for an album cover paste-up. He immediately returned to his studio to finish the paste-up in time to make a second trip down the hill that afternoon to meet the UPS truck on its way back to New York.
Musician members of the Vermont Jazz Center in Brattleboro honored Tom Hannan with a performance during a memorial gathering at the Hannan home in 2001.
The exhibition at All Souls Church was curated by Pamela Seymour Smith Sharp, niece of Tom and Alison Hannan, and will include several of Hannan's abstract paintings and a selection of his iconic jazz album cover designs from the 1950s and '60s.
The public is invited to meet Alison Hannan and Pamela Seymour Smith Sharp at a reception for this and another concurrent exhibit at All Souls on Saturday, October 1, from 2 to 4 p.m. Other gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday from 9 to 1 as well as during worship services and public events in the building. For further information about access, call the church office at (802) 254-9377. For additional information about Tom Hannan's work, call (718) 383-5429.
Tom Hannan (1927-2000) studied painting at The Hans Hofmann School in 1950-53. While he exhibited his paintings at the artist-run James Gallery in New York City, he became a jazz aficionado and designed album covers for the jazz record labels Prestige, Columbia, Blue Note, Bethlehem, Jubilee and Roulette, among others. Hannan's designs incorporated his own paintings, drawings, typographical arrangements, and photographs of musicians taken at the Rudy van Gelder recording studio in Hackensack, N.J. He also collaborated with the experimental photographer Scott Hyde and with illustrator Tomi Ungerer. Hannan's cover designs, along with those of his peers Reid Miles and John Hermansader, have been published in several anthologies devoted to jazz album cover art.
Tom set up a graphic design studio in Guilford, Vermont, after he and his wife Alison bought a house there in 1959. To deliver work on tight deadlines to clients in New York, Hannan would drive two miles down Packer Corners Road to meet a UPS truck on its morning trip north along Weatherhead Hollow Road, destination Brattleboro, and pick up a package containing components for an album cover paste-up. He immediately returned to his studio to finish the paste-up in time to make a second trip down the hill that afternoon to meet the UPS truck on its way back to New York.
Musician members of the Vermont Jazz Center in Brattleboro honored Tom Hannan with a performance during a memorial gathering at the Hannan home in 2001.The exhibition at All Souls Church was curated by Pamela Seymour Smith Sharp, niece of Tom and Alison Hannan, and will include several of Hannan's abstract paintings and a selection of his iconic jazz album cover designs from the 1950s and '60s.
The public is invited to meet Alison Hannan and Pamela Seymour Smith Sharp at a reception for this and another concurrent exhibit at All Souls on Saturday, October 1, from 2 to 4 p.m. Other gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday from 9 to 1 as well as during worship services and public events in the building. For further information about access, call the church office at (802) 254-9377. For additional information about Tom Hannan's work, call (718) 383-5429.
