Contemplating Practice and Presence with Gabrielle Ione Hickmon

I’m excited to introduce you to Gabrielle Ione Hickmon and invite you into our conversation about art, research, home, history, and how Gabrielle blends them in her creative practices.

Gabrielle Ione Hickmon is a Black woman from a middle place—Ypsilanti, MI. A visual artist and History PhD student at the University of Michigan, Gabrielle's practice is concerned with African American and Indigenous histories, presents, and futures in the Great Lakes Region. As a breast cancer survivor, Gabrielle’s practice also engages illness, disability, and health toward an attempt at clarifying her experience to herself and exploring cancer's intersections with history and culture. She is concerned with breast cancer, its aftermaths, and its impacts—especially on Black women. Her writing has appeared in Vox, Condé Nast Traveler, The Baffler, The Pudding, and Literary Hub. She has exhibited ceramic work domestically and internationally. Her ceramics are in the private collection of the North Carolina Historic Sites Division and the Modern Ancient Brown Foundation. Gabrielle has been an artist-in-residence at Pocoapoco, Mas Palou, Mudhouse, John Bauer Ceramics, the Visual Art Center of Richmond, and the Modern Ancient Brown Foundation. She lives, works, and studies in her hometown, Ypsilanti, MI.

Tune in to learn more about:

• Differentiating projects, practices, and offerings
• Integrating place and family history into an art practice and scholarship
• Calling attention to young Black women’s experiences with breast cancer
• Working with different materials and techniques as a visual artist
• Gabrielle’s rituals and routines in her ceramics studio (this was such a delight to hear!)

RESOURCES & LINKS

• Gabrielle’s website and newsletter
• Gabrielle’s offerings, including Applications for Artists
• WORKING PROCESS podcast
• The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde
• The Cancer Quilts
• Imerman’s Angels
• Worthwhile Paper Inquire Within deck
• Nala Sinephro (Gabrielle’s reading music)
• Sisters of the Yam by bell hooks
• When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön

SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS
⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry
💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter
📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity Planner

Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.