ARTIST STATEMENT

I am an eclectic artist working in a wide variety of mediums including wood, metal, stone, resin, gems and minerals, bone and found objects. I collect a wide variety of objects to help embellish and bring to life my works. I am self-taught with no formal art training although I hold a doctoral degree in counselor education. I worked for years as a licensed psychologist with an emphasis on vocational rehabilitation, neuropsychological assessment, and cognitive retraining.

While living in Houston Texas, I was fortunate enough to be selected by the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft for a six-month artist in residence program. I did this while working full time in my psychology practice. This experience laid the ground work for my entering the business world of art.

I have always been fascinated by the “how, what, why,” of working objects. Taking pieces apart, reassembling them in unique ways and striving for animation in those pieces. If you’ve seen it before, its probably not something I’ve made.

My mantra, since early childhood, which has remained throughout my life has been “You can never have too many skills.”” Learn as much about how things work as you can to be able to transfer those skills to ever increasing circles of possibilities.” This has enabled me to learn a skill to see how many ways I can use that skill in my life. My art reflects that diversity of knowledge, skill, and uniqueness.

Wood turning has been a passion for many years now. Although I can turn functional pieces of wood, such as bowls, its hard for me to leave the surface of a piece wood to stand alone. Embellishment combined with design has led many viewers to wonder “how did she make that?” “Is that piece ceramic?” “How did she come up with that idea?”

These are the questions I thrive on in my work. If the viewer isn’t drawn in to take a closer look, if the piece doesn’t reflect its own sense of movement, I don’t feel the piece can stand on its own merit.

professional BIO

Paula Haymond grew up in Indiana and attended Butler University, where she earned her Bachelors and Master’s degree in psychology and psychometric assessment. She later attended Indiana University, completing her Doctor of Education degree in counseling. In 1982, Haymond moved to Houston, Texas, as an administrator at a children’s hospital. She was licensed as a psychologist in 1988, after which she went into private practice specializing in vocational rehabilitation and neuropsychological testing.

In 2010, Haymond began working full time as a wood turner/ sculptor, fulfilling a lifelong love of crafting and woodworking. Curiosity and drive for creating, led her to an artist in residence rotation at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft in 2011. While at the center, she was accepted into membership at Archway Gallery, the oldest artist-owned and operated gallery in the country. Her accomplishments as a wood artists were rewarded in 2012, when two of her vases were juried in by Catherine Anspon of PaperCity Magazine in the Houston Visual Arts Alliance 30th Juried Member Exhibition.

Since then, Haymond has continued to be acknowledged for her innovative and unique style of wood sculpture. Her work was featured on the front cover of April 2013 Woodturning Magazine followed by full page photograph of her piece “Lost Language” in the December issue of American Association of Woodturners magazine. Haymond has been on the cover of the Rancher Newspaper, and has conducted live demonstrations on the Debra Duncan Morning Show and the Sunday Morning News Hour on KPRC, Channel 2. She has enjoyed solo and group exhibitions at Archway Gallery as well as at Kam’s Chinese Restaurant and the Carl Jung Center of Houston. Haymond has demonstrated her methods of working with wood at the Gulf Coast Woodturners Association, Southwest Association of Woodturners regional symposium and Virginia Woodturners Symposium.

Haymond and her works in wood and brass could be seen at the Arizona Fine Art Expo, 2017 from January through March 2017.

In late 2017, she and her partner of 35 years moved to the Northern coast of California. From 2017-2020 Haymond was an active member of the Coastal Highway Art Collective of Point Arena, California. In 2017 and 2018, she was an active demonstrator at the American Association of Woodturners, trade show for MDI Woodcarvers. She also worked as a videographer for the AAW symposium in Portland.

Since moving to California, Haymond has had a solo exhibition at Coast Highway Artist Collective in May 2019. She has participated in two seasons of Art in the Redwoods at the Gualalala Art Center, winning first place in sculpture in 2019 and first place in woodworking in 2020. Haymond has been an active member of the Board of Directors of the Gualala Art Center since 2019. She currently shows her diversity of works at the following galleries: The Discovery Gallery, The Dophin Gallery and the Artist Collective of Elk.

PRESS ARTICLES

OutSmart Magazine, interviewed by Nancy Ford, featured article, “It’s All about Glass and Wood and Love,” September 2012

Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts, Air Interviews: Paula Haymond. February 29, 2012.

Houston Chronicle – Katy woodturning artist holds first Houston exhibition this month, Zach Haverkamp Aug. 5, 2013

Houston Chronicle - Art becomes second career for Katy woman. Paula Haymond worked until recently as a psychologist and carved wood during her spare time, Lindsay Peyton, Sep. 30, 2014, Updated: Oct. 1, 2014.

Houston Press - When Wood Met Design: LeeAnn Gorman and Paula Haymond. Jim Tommaney | October 16, 2014