Franklin & Marshall College

You don't have to be a science major to create a compelling Hackman research project.

So learned Jessica Jackson '10, an Art History and Africana Studies double major who spent her summer cataloguing the voluminous life's work of local African-American abstract artist Bill Hutson.

Hutson's artistic career spanned half a century and took him around the globe. The prolific artist created a vast array of works that began to take up an ever-increasing share of his home in Lancaster City.

That's where Jackson and Franklin & Marshall College come in. When Jackson learned from Phillips Museum Director Eliza Reilly that the College was acquiring Hutson's large collection, she asked to participate in the task of cataloguing and moving the delicate pieces.

"His art was in the hallways, the living room, the kitchen," Jackson says. "He didn't have room for much furniture, it was so full." Jackson helped to assign each work a number. She also took pictures of them all, since most had never been photographed.

She even helped transport some of the works to campus. That was a painstaking process because each piece had to be individually wrapped. The collection that F&M is acquiring is still only about a third of the work that Hutson has produced in his lifetime, because he lost many pieces during his travels along the way.

Hutson's multimedia work is best described as "vibrant," Jackson says. In a broad and extensive career, the self-taught artist produced mixed-media paintings, sculptures and drawings. To view one of his larger works, walk in the front door of Barshinger Hall and look left, over the door to the Philosophy Department wing.

Hutson grew up in Texas and traveled extensively for exhibitions, work and research. He has lived in England, France, Holland, Italy, Nigeria and Senegal. He has visited every country in Western Europe and traveled to Cambodia, Gabon, India, Ivory Coast, Laos, Mali, Morocco and Myanmar. He travels regularly to New York City and is actively involved in the Lancaster arts community. He also is the Jennie Brown Cook and Betsy Hess Cook Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at F&M.

Jackson says Hutson was thrilled to learn the College wanted to acquire his artwork because his house was overflowing, making it difficult for him to produce any more art. "He was completely out of room," she says. "He's very excited and can't wait to start painting again."

Jackson says she was honored to work with Hutson. "He is a wealth of knowledge," she says. "The places he's been and the people he's met are the people I read about in my textbooks." She plans to attend graduate school in history with a focus on African-American art.