Student finds art to be his passion
“Persistence personified” might best describe Michael D. Hansen, a six-year art student at Utah State University.
After several attempts at obtaining his degree at two different universities, years in military service and a log of exotic travel that would create envy in even Marco Polo, Hansen said his life is the pursuit of his passion: Art.
“I started drawing at the age of 15,” he said. “I started drawing comic book characters, tracing pictures and working on the typical high school art pieces. I wasn’t really into it at first. I liked it, but I didn’t realize how much. My intensity for art has grown and grown until it has become my passion.”
USU’s Merrill Library holds two of his publications. Some of Hansen’s imagery is on a bookplate at the library as part of the Beat Poet Permanent Collection.
Hansen’s other publication is a book of his etchings entitled “Taoist Prayer Book.” The work is comprised of pictures of the eight basic elements in Taoist philosophy, he said. Two examples incorporated in this book are the elements “Heaven and Earth,” and “Fire and Lake.”
The book was acquired by the Merrill Library and may be found in the catalog in the “Art Book” room. The library acquired Hansen’s book during a book show as a purchased award. The library gave him money as an award and kept his book in return, he said.
“It is not easy to identify Mike’s style of artwork specifically,” said Jennifer Putnam, a long-time friend of Hansen’s. “He is very expressionistic. He finds a deeper meaning to every art piece and relates it to something in his life.”
Perhaps Hansen’s work may be appreciated only by understanding his life, which has been filled with numerous moves, international travels and more than his share of disappointing academic endeavors.
“I was born in the local hospital in Logan, Utah,” Hansen said. “I grew up on a beef cattle ranch nearby Wellsville, Utah, in the state’s Northern Cache Valley. I started reading extensively when I was 13. The majority of my reading at that time was fantasy reading, that I got way into.
“I started drawing a couple years later when my family moved to Kaysville. At 18 I left home and went to Utah State University for one year. My grades were horrible, so I moved to Ogden, Utah and worked there. Then I went to Weber State University for a couple terms, but my grades didn’t get any better,” Hansen said.
Enlisting in the United States Marine Corps was Hansen’s next endeavor.
“I worked in aircraft electronics. After a few years I earned my U.S. Marine Corps Aircraft Wings. Then I became a flight mechanic,” Hansen said. “I was stationed in Japan for two years. I flew over Cambodia finding Missing in Action [MIA] remains. I also served in Africa, in the countries of Kenya and Somalia. I also pulled refugees out of Liberia and Central African Republic.”
While Hansen was in Africa, he caught Malaria and nearly died.
“The Marines were so sure I was going to die, they sent for my parents to come to Spain to say goodbye to me. My parents came, but I didn’t die,” he said.
After five years of service to the U.S., Hansen finished his contract with the Marines.
In the spring of 1997 Hansen returned to Utah, and decided to visit his sister at USU.
He stayed in Logan for two months at a fraternity house. After that he flew to England and hitch-hiked for a year and a half in both Western and Eastern Europe.
In 1998, Hansen returned to USU as a student. The following summer Hansen spent in Fiji and New Zealand.
His world travels combined with academics allowed him to spend part of the next school year abroad traveling to Nepal and India.
Hansen said his travels helped him put on an individual art show at USU of his original photos and prints this fall.