Answers to Go

Q. February is Black History Month. I’d like to know more about prominent African Americans from Texas.

A. There are many Black Texans of note — the following are but two. Next week’s column will feature two more prominent individuals.

Bill Hutson was born on Sept. 6, 1936 in San Marcos, where he was raised. If you love art, especially abstract paintings with a unique vision and style, then you are in for a treat. During the month of February (and into April at some locations) there is a citywide exhibition celebrating this San Marcos native’s work. Hutson is one of the most innovative artists of his generation. His vibrant, dynamic compositions are layered with historical references and personal symbolism. Frequently abstract, his art gives form to often intangible feelings and encounters that resist representation in conventional ways, many of them unique among Black Americans whose experiences are shaped by perseverance and pride in the face of generational displacement and marginalization. This exhibition brings more than 60 unique objects and process drawings to the artist’s hometown of San Marcos for the very first time. (City of San Marcos)

After moving to San Francisco in the early 1960s and, without any formal training, Hutson began making abstract paintings. While in San Francisco, he exhibited his artwork and was included in an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He moved to New York in 1963 and began traveling the world for the next four decades. He has visited and worked in 26 different countries, including England, France, Holland, Italy and Senegal. From 1974 – 1976, Hutson was employed as a Graphic Arts Officer at The National Museum in Lagos, Nigeria. During the past 30 years, Hutson has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions at museums and galleries internationally and throughout the U.S. Hutson’s paintings are in numerous public and private collections including the National Museum of Arts, Havana Cuba, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY, The George Visat Collection, Paris, France, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, The Newark Museum, Newark, NJ, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, Calif., and Boysmans-Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam, Holland. (Bill Hutson) The San Marcos Public Library is fortunate to have some of his work exhibited thru April 19. For a full list of the five separate galleries in San Marcos featuring The Art of Bill Hutson, visit the website at visitsanmarcos.com/ billhutson/ or call the library at 512-393-8200.

John Mason Brewer, legendary black folklorist, was born in Goliad, Texas, on March 24, 1896. His list of “firsts” is impressive. As the first black member of the Texas Folklore Society, he addressed its meetings and published in six of its annual volumes. He became the first black member of the Texas Institute of Letters in 1954, after being chosen one of 25 best Texas authors by Theta Sigma Phi, for “The Word on the Brazos: Negro Preacher Tales from the Brazos Bottoms of Texas.” (The San Marcos Public Library has this book available for check out.) He was the first Black to serve as vice president of the American Folklore Society. He received grants for research in Negro folklore from the American Philosophical Society, the Piedmont University Center for the Study of Negro Folklore, the Library of Congress, the National Library of Mexico, and the National University of Mexico. He has been compared to Zora Neale Hurston, a Black writer who was part of the Harlem Renaissance. Like her, he was noted for his use of black dialects. He eventually became nationally known as a folklorist and popular lecturer and was included in Who’s Who in America the year after he died. (Texas State Historical Association)

• Bill Hutson. About. (n.d.). Retrieved Feb. 7, from billhutson.com/ about/

• City of San Marcos. (n.d.). The art of Bill Hutson. Visit San Marcos, TX. Retrieved Feb. 7, from visitsanmarcos.com/ billhutson/

• Texas State Historical Association. (n.d.). Brewer, John Mason (1896–1975). TSHA. Retrieved Jan. 28, from tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/brewer-john-mason

Suzanne Sanders is the new columnist for the library. She is the Community Services Manager for the San Marcos Public Library and came from the Austin Public Library in 2015 after having served there as a librarian for over 20 years. She gratefully accepts your questions for this column.