Melanie Hickerson
The dichotomy inherent in the traditional role of women traps them between being the enslaved and the protector. This work is from a series of paintings expressing both vulnerability and courage. I reach to create a “storytelling narrative” with metaphors of our times as well as universal experiences. I don’t know the exact story but a feeling is clearly present. The imagery points to the experience of being overtly revered and covertly despised. The woman’s eyes move from ambivalent to fierce in the foreground. Don’t shut up.
Melanie Hickerson received her MFA from the University of Texas in Austin, TX. She is an experienced artist whose work is in the permanent collection of The University of Texas at San Antonio plus many private collections around the world. Ms Hickerson continues to actively exhibit and execute commissions.
Hickerson has lived and worked in Rome, Italy; Berkeley, California; New York, New York and Austin, Texas and has traveled broadly. Ms Hickerson had two one person exhibits at Ceres, NY, NY in 1993 and 1996. Ms Hickerson now lives in Austin, Texas. Her work has been exhibited at the Austin City Hall In 2011, 2015 and 2016.
Panel Moderator, Defining and Developing Women’s Iconography, WCA National Convention, Philadelphia, PA, February 1997 was one of her favorite experiences.
Guangzhou, China, she says, is the most “foreign” place she has visited.
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