Hanes Visiting Artist Lecture: John Hitchcock

John Hitchcock is a contemporary artist and musician based out of Madison, Wisconsin, and originally from Medicine Park, Oklahoma. He currently works in multimedia including neon, textiles, printmaking, sound, and video to reclaim narratives of resilience and survival. He uses visual storytelling to understand his relationships to community, land, and culture. Hitchcock’s artwork consists of abstract representations, language, and intense color referencing his Kaku’s (Comanche grandmothers) beadwork and regalia. His artworks are based on his childhood memories and stories of growing up in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma on Comanche Tribal lands next to the US field artillery military base Ft Sill.  Many of the images are interpretations of stories told by his Kiowa/Comanche grandparents and abstract representations influenced by beadwork and intercultural identities.

Hitchcock earned his MFA in printmaking and photography at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, and received his BFA from Cameron University, Lawton, Oklahoma. He has been the recipient of The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Artistic Innovation and Collaboration grant, New York; the Jerome Foundation Grant, Minnesota; the Creative Arts Award and the Emily Mead Baldwin Award in the Creative Arts at the University of Wisconsin. He is currently an Artist and the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he teaches screenprinting, relief cut, and installation art.

His artwork has been exhibited at numerous venues including the National Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon; Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, Montana; North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Fork, North Dakota; International Print Center New York; New York; Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico; American Culture Center in Shanghai, China, The Rauschenberg Project Space, New York, New York; and Air, Land, Seed” at the Venice Biennale 54th International of Art at the University of Ca’ Foscari, Venice, Italy.

An endowment established in 1983 through the generosity of Nancy and Robin Hanes supports the Art Department’s Visiting Artist Series. This important program brings both established and emerging artists to campus to discuss their work in public lectures and to offer individual critiques to our M.F.A. students.  The Hanes Visiting Artist series greatly enriches both our academic programs and our outreach to the wider community.  All lectures are free and open to the public.

A weeknight or daytime permit is now required after 5:00pm on weekdays. There is no permit required from 5:00pm Friday through 7:30am Monday. A $1.00 one-night pass is available in selected lots. More information can be found HERE.

Artist website: https://www.hybridpress.net/

CLE credit is available for this event

Image: Blanket Songs, 2023, multimedia installation consisting of printmaking, neon, video, and sound at the Stream Building in Madison, WI.