Carolyn Hazel Drake is a sculptor, arts educator, and third-generation Oregonian. Her studio practice integrates textiles, ceramics, and domestic materials assembled and layered through traditional craft techniques to create objects and installations. Drake references devotional spaces and archetypal imagery to create work that feels familiar yet cryptic.
Drake studied Literature & Architecture at Portland State University’s Honors College and spent a term as a curatorial research & writing intern for the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She has an M.Ed. in Arts Education and was a longtime K-12 public educator and arts administrator in Oregon school districts. She served on the Portland Art Museum Teacher Advisory Council for seven years, and in 2019 was awarded the Distinguished Service to Arts Education by OAEA. Currently Carolyn is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Art Education in the School of Art at Arizona State University and works closely with K-12 and college arts programs across the Valley of the Sun.
Drake has been awarded the GLEAN residency, the Leland Ironworks Residency, the Suttle Lodge Artist Residency, and the Sitka Center for Art & Ecology residency, and is an active participant in the annual Portland Textile Month. Her work has been shown at Guardino Gallery, Oregon Contemporary, Blackfish Gallery, Hanson Howard, and the Sitka Art Invitational. She is represented by Carnation Contemporary and Hanson Howard Gallery.
In 2022, Drake joined the faculty of the School of Art at Arizona State University as an assistant teaching professor for art education. She divides her time between Phoenix, AZ and Portland, OR.