The Art of Ho-Chunk Basket Making

press release:

The Art of Ho-Chunk Basket Making and John Hitchcock: Protectors will open on Thursday, January 26, at the Edgewood College Gallery, located on the 1st floor of The Stream – Visual & Theatre Arts Center on the Edgewood College campus in Madison. Exhibition details are as follows:

Exhibition dates:  Thursday, January 26 - Sunday, February 26, 2017

Opening reception: Thursday, January 26, 5:00-7:30 pm. 

The Art of Ho-Chunk Basket Making

The art of black ash basket making has been an economic source of income for the Ho-Chunk people since the late 1800s. Many families would make their baskets all winter long in order to sell to tourists at roadside stands in the summer months. These once utilitarian baskets soon became prized art objects that were enjoyed by collectors from all over the world. This exhibition presents an array of historic and contemporary Ho-Chunk baskets from the collections of JoAnn Jones, Tom Jones and Michael Schmudlach.  

John Hitchcock: Protectors

Inspired by the long history of social and political commentary within the discipline of printmaking, Madison-based printmaker John Hitchcock has filled Edgewood College Atrium Gallery with multiple screenprint images of bison skulls mounted on a background of Naugahyde pelts in a form that suggests landmasses. Each of these elements is loaded with meaning pertaining to the environment. Drawing upon his Comanche/Kiowa and Northern European heritage, Hitchcock’s woodland and plains inspired imagery stand as metaphors for humans’ relationship with nature, the trauma of war, and the fragility of life.

Co-Curator of Re-Riding History, John Hitchcock is an Artist, Professor and Associate Dean of Arts at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. His work has been exhibited in  numerous exhibits at national and international venues including Weaving Past into Present: Experiments in Contemporary Native American Printmaking, International Print Center New York, NY (2015) and Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, NM (2017) and recent solo exhibitions National Sanctuary at the Museum of Wisconsin Art, West Bend, WI (2016) and Traces of the Plains, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, NM (2014). Additional international exhibits include “Air, Land, Seed”  54th Venice Biennale, University of Ca' Foscari, Venice, Italy (2013); “Envisioning The Plains” (solo) American Culture Center, Shanghai, China (2012); the Kumu Art Museum of Estonia, Tallinn, Estonia; London Print Studio, London, England, UK; South African Museum, Cape Town, South Africa; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Santiago de Chile. View Hitchcock’s artwork at: www.hybridpress.net