Pat Hickman

Pat Hickman received her master’s degree in design and textiles from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1977, and taught at many Bay Area schools for several years. In 1990 she began teaching at the University of Hawaii, where she led the fiber arts program. The artist has noted that the Koolau Mountains running along the spine of Oahu remind her of textiles, “velvety and pleated.” This natural landscape has inspired Hickman to work not only with fibers but with the bark and branches of trees, which she associates with life. Some of these sculptures remain in their natural state, while others are then cast in metals (Artists of Hawaii, ’99).

Text © Smithsonian American Art Museum