Area galleries collaborate to honor lifetime achievements of Bill Hutson

The Art of Bill Hutson is a citywide exhibition celebrating the work of artist and San Marcos-native Bill Hutson. Five separate and overlapping gallery shows will serve as a homecoming of sorts for Hutson, born in 1936 and raised in the Dunbar neighborhood of San Marcos, who later became one of the most innovative artists of his generation.

“In spite of being internationally renowned, Bill Hutson remains a virtual unknown in his hometown, and we want to change that,” said Linda Kelsey-Jones, co-creator of the show and curator for two of the individual gallery displays.

This exhibition brings over 60 unique objects and process drawings to the artist's hometown of San Marcos for the first time. The Art of Bill Hutson is a collaboration between the Calaboose African American History Museum, the Price Center, the San Marcos Art League, the Texas State Galleries and the Walkers' Gallery. The art on view is on temporary loan from the artist's studio and from the Phillips Museum at Franklin & Marshall College, where Hutson is Professor Emeritus. Hutson, now 86 years old, currently lives and works in

Lancaster, Penn. Margo Handwerker, show co-creator and curator of Texas State displays describes Huston's work as “vibrant, dynamic compositions” layered with historical and personal symbolism.

“While the works are frequently abstract, they give 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,” Handwerker said.

Hutson’s “Homestead” is the centerpiece of the show, which hangs in the Texas State Galleries through the Spring term. The piece refers to the multiple, and often paradoxical, definitions of the term.

“There was an invincible quality about San Marcos; a concealed magnetism, covert vitality and sacrosanct ambiance generated by the town’s past. I wanted to convey the natural and metaphysical dimensions of a homestead,” writes Hutson in referring to the piece.

Individual and overlapping gallery shows — each featuring different works by Hutson — are on display as follows:

The Calaboose African American History Museum

The Art of Bill Hutson: The Opening

Jan. 8–April 2

200 W. Martin Luther King

Dr. 512-393-8421

The Price Center

The Art of Bill Hutson: Works in 3D

Jan. 15 - Feb. 26

222 W. San Antonio St.,

512-392-2900

The San Marcos Art Center

The Art of Bill Hutson: Image of Scorpius

Jan. 12–March 20

117 N. Guadalupe St.

512-679-5059

Texas State Galleries

The Art of Bill Hutson: Homestead

Sept. 15–May 18

233 West Sessom

512-245-2647

Walkers’ Gallery @ the San Marcos Public Library

The Art of Bill Hutson: Trees are never finished. . .

Jan. 12–April 9

625 E. Hopkins St.

512-393-8200

The collaboration is the first of its kind between all these separate arts entities in San Marcos. It is being made possible through the support of the San Marcos Arts Commission, the City of San Marcos, the San Marcos Public Library, the Phillips Museum of Art, and Bill Hutson. Related events and activities will be presented separately. Planning is underway for a Feb. 12 reception for the show.

For more information, please visit visitsanmarcos. com/billhutson/