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HICKS, Harold Jon "Jack"
HICKS, Harold Jon "Jack." (Dubuque, IA, Nov. 18, 1939--Salt Lake City, UT, Mar. 13, 2008). The son of Helen B. Hogan and Harold G. Hicks, Jack and his family moved from Iowa to Tucson, Arizona. There he went on to graduate from Salpointe Catholic High School in May 1958. He entered the Marine Reserves in December 1958, served active duty training from February 5 until August 4, 1959, and finished as a reservist in July 1964.
Hicks was an artist and craftsman in a multitude of disciplines. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Arizona in Tucson with emphasis in photography and ceramics. He received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City, with an emphasis in sculpture.
Hicks was recruited to be the display manager, for the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. He held that position for several years. At the museum, he mentored several young artists. During that period, he was also attending the University of Utah school of Fine Arts Masters Program. Jack worked on his MFA, after hours, in the museum workshop.
Several of his works were purchased by the Museum. One is currently on display at the Eccles Medical Library, University of Utah Medical Center. Two others are in the Utah Museum of Fine Arts Collection.
In the spring of 1976, he quit his museum work and began working, as a contractor, building several houses. He continued to mentor several artists, including his daughter, Heather.
Hicks was primarily a welded steel sculptor. Many of his early works were figurative. His later works integrated hard steel forms with welded steel figures. Often, he would disassemble his works and rearrange them to suit his mood. Sometimes he would lose interest in them, sell them for ridiculous low prices or even give them away. His formable catalog was reduced to those few pieces he enjoyed having in his environment. His attitude toward art was that it had become pretty things for the rich and he despised the rich.
Hick's work was totemic in nature. He used vertical lines to establish height, and then expanded the sculpture horizontally above the viewer. He used cubic planes to define form and break them up the establish a visual rhythm. He used changes in surfaces to make interplay. He used welded steel figures, hung off the sculpture, very much like pacific Native American totems. This continued to be a theme even near his death, where he decorated his grandson's rowboat with a Pacific Native American motif stemhead. He painted his work but would allow them to age.
Jack's work was also cross-disciplined. The basis of his master catalog was welded steel forms. He often blurred the lines between art and lifestyle, as he rebuilt his home, into a lovely cottage. The existing workshop, which was made from railroad ties, he covered with found objects. His sense of form and balance could be seen even in the junk he hung by the door of his studio.
Jack is listed in the Smithsonian Institution art inventory catalog.
Partial list of locations of surviving works
Homage to St. Elia #2- Steel and wood.
Salt Lake Art Center, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Untitled, Welded steel with waxed red lacquer
finish. Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University
of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Untitled, Brass, steel, plexiglass & wood. Utah
Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah, Salt Lake
City, Utah.
Untitled, Steel and Aluminum Leaf. Eccles Medical
Library, University of Utah Medical Center, Salt
Lake City, Utah.
Prometheus, Steel and found object. Private
Collection, Salt Lake City, Utah.
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Source:
"Jack Hicks." Wikipedia
"Harold Jon "Jack" Hicks." Ask/Art--The Artists' Bluebook. Online: http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/biography.aspx?artist=10024851