Closing reception for The Art of Bill Hutson exhibit set for Saturday

“The Art of Bill Hutson” has been a citywide exhibition celebrating the art and legacy of San Marcos born-and-raised artist Bill Hutson. It has been on display at five local galleries since February and has attracted rave reviews and visitors from far and wide. Exhibit coordinators now invite you to the closing reception on Saturday from 3-5 p.m. at the San Marcos Public Library. 

The more than 60 artworks, spanning six decades of Hutson’s ever-evolving artistic expression, have been on loan from the Phillips Museum of Art at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Penn., where Hutson is an Associate Professor Emeritus of Art and Art History, and where much of his collection has been donated.

Anyone who has yet to see all or part of the exhibit can see the displays prior to the reception, Saturday 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Galleries at Texas State at the JC Mitte Building (parking lot there is open on Saturdays) and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Calaboose African American History Museum at 200 W. MLK Jr. Drive. The exhibit at the Library will be on display from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Hutson was born in 1936 in a “shotgun” house at 733 Center St., in the traditionally Black Dunbar neighborhood. He and his three siblings attended the “colored” school across the street along with many locally known San Marcos African Americans such as Johnnie (Odoms) Armstead (founder of the Calaboose African American History Museum), Allbert Armstead, and Rose (Kirk) Brooks. 

Hutson and his siblings who were still in school when their mother passed away were taken to live with an aunt in San Antonio where they finished their schooling at Phillis Wheatley High School. Hutson enlisted in the Air Force and became trained as a radar technician. Upon discharge, however , he was denied jobs in that field due to his race and in San Francisco he started to explore new possibilities, hanging out at poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s City Lights bookstore, where he first became aware of “fine” art. 

“And,” as they say, “the rest is history!” Hutson’s growing interest in fine arts ultimately kept him traveling for much of his life, continuously evolving his unique artistic language of painting and distinctive engagement with abstraction. Along with numerous US art ‘Meccas’ such as New York, he pursued his across Europe — London, Paris, Amsterdam, and on beyond to Asia, Africa, India and even Cuba. Hutson’s work is included in many public and private collections across the U.S. and the world including numerous major museums. 

This exhibition in San Marcos came as a surprise — both to him and to San Marcos. While renowned in greater art centers, he was “discovered” by San Marcos very recently. This is his first exhibit in San Marcos — and in Texas.

While the artist is unable to attend the reception due to health reasons, he will be there in spirit and also through a recently recorded zoom with co-coordinators of the event. Several members of his family, who live in Texas, will be attending to represent the Hutson family. The public is invited to welcome and celebrate Hutson’s family and his remarkable

The Art of Bill Hutson exhibition has been a collaboration of the Galleries at Texas State University, The Walkers’ Gallery at the San Marcos Public Library, the Calaboose African American History Museum, the Price Center and the San Marcos Art League. It has received support from the San Marcos Arts Commission, the City of San Marcos Convention and Visitors Bureau, the San Marcos Public Library and Cardinal Frame and Art. Coordinators are also grateful for the San Marcos Record for its extensive reporting on this unique series of events.