30th Annual NO DEAD ARTISTS
International Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Art"First Saturdays" Opening Reception - 3 October 5-9 PM - in conjunction with ART FOR ARTS' SAKE DOWNTOWN
September 11 – October 24, 2026
Hope Hickman
BackPull Quote
This almost sexual frustration toward the illusoriness of power's trappings produces uncanny, comical interpretations of a European past. What I make feels familiar and intoxicating, but also wrong. Formally, I work through cuteness, bizarre anthropomorphized forms, and layers of gaudy kitsch to achieve this effect.
Biography
HOPE HICKMAN
lives and works - New Orleans, Louisiana
@hopehickman_art
Hope Hickman is a queer artist working in the expanded field of ceramics, based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her work processes the aesthetics of wealth, romance, and power through haptic, anthropomorphized forms that layer cuteness and kitsch over a deep skepticism toward European canonical art and its colonial inheritances.
Hickman holds an MFA in Ceramics from Tulane University and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Akron, though her early career was spent predominantly in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where she learned ceramics through a series of informal mentorships in folk art. Her work was recently acquired by the Newcomb Art Museum. She has exhibited widely across the Gulf South, the Midwest, and Southern Appalachia, and currently serves as Adjunct Professor at Tulane University.
Artist Statement
I am tormented by aesthetic seduction, by what I can only call the romantic. My practice processes, through haptic intuition, the look of wealth, of sex, of romance, and most of all, of power.
Jarred by the history of European imperialism and disgusted by the colonial fetish object, I approach European canonical art with real skepticism, a skepticism that sits uneasily beside my own weakness for the art historical. This frustration between desire and repulsion is the fodder for my work. Executed well, the result becomes a relief valve for the existential pressures that historicity forces us to confront.
This almost sexual frustration toward the illusoriness of power's trappings produces uncanny, comical interpretations of a European past. What I make feels familiar and intoxicating, but also wrong. Formally, I work through cuteness, bizarre anthropomorphized forms, and layers of gaudy kitsch to achieve this effect. Threads of contemporary reality run through the work as clearly as its reflections of a European past. My work becomes, in this way, part of an honest discussion of gender, power, inequality, and, most potently, whiteness.
New Orleans, now my home, has proven a rich environment for this inquiry: daily immersion in the language of romantic semiotics and the living complexity of European colonial inheritance.
Cirriculum Vitae
EDUCATION
2026 MFA Ceramics — Tulane University | New Orleans, Louisiana
2016 B.S. Applied Mathematics — University of Akron (4.0 GPA) | Akron, Ohio
WORK EXPERIENCE
2026 Adjunct Professor — Tulane University | New Orleans, Louisiana
2025 Instructor of Record — Tulane University | New Orleans, Louisiana
2023 Hope Hickman Studios LLC | Akron, Ohio
2018 Assistant Ceramic Jeweler — Hot Drops | Brevard, North Carolina
2018 Assistant Potter — Duckpond Pottery | Brevard, North Carolina
EXHIBITIONS
2026 Pleasure Grounds: The End of the Cul-de-Sac — Carroll Gallery | New Orleans, Louisiana
2025 Residue — University of Montana School of Visual & Media Art | Online
2025 Form and Its Echo — Nola Nacular | New Orleans, Louisiana
2025 Parts Unknown — Staple Goods | New Orleans, Louisiana
2025 Louisiana Queer Arts — Marigny Opera House | New Orleans, Louisiana
2024 Text Me When You Get Home — Avant Garden Art Studios & Gallery, Curated Storefront | Akron, Ohio
2024 Queerphoria Vol. 3: Transformation — The Silver Fern, Fiddlehead Gallery | Cookeville, Tennessee
2024 Inside the Closet — Hildebrandt Artist Collective | Cleveland, Ohio
2024 OH Queer — FAVA Gallery | Oberlin, Ohio
2024 Groundhog Show 2024 — Clapp for Art | Akron, Ohio
2024 Prismatic — Heights Arts | Cleveland, Ohio
2023 Works Under 200 — Malone University | Canton, Ohio
2023 Bazarbeque — Kink Contemporary | Cleveland, Ohio
2023 Secret Garden — FJ Kluth Gallery | Kent, Ohio
2023 Yes We Are — Hildebrandt Artist Collective | Cleveland, Ohio
2023 Groundhog Show | Akron, Ohio
2022 Faces of Akron — Summit Artspace | Akron, Ohio
2022 Groundhog Show | Akron, Ohio
2022 Sketchbook Creative: Casual Creations — FJ Kluth Gallery | Kent, Ohio
2021 Creativity During a Crisis — University of Akron Alumni Show | Akron, Ohio
2021 Groundhog Show | Akron, Ohio
2021 Manic on Main — Garden Variety | Wadsworth, Ohio
2020 Lepley and Co Gallery Opening — Garden Variety | Massillon, Ohio
2020 Aurora Studios and Red Wolf Gallery — Garden Variety | Brevard, North Carolina
2020 The 18th Kaleidoscope Juried Art Exhibition | Akron, Ohio
2020 AoRC 2020 Juried Regional Art Exhibition | Akron, Ohio
2020 Standing Rock Cultural Arts Gallery, Earth Day Show | Kent, Ohio
2020 Summit Artspace, Fresh Art Juried Exhibition | Akron, Ohio
2019 Cuyahoga Valley Arts Center Human Figurative Exhibition | Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
2019 Summit Artspace, Creative Recovery | Akron, Ohio
2019 Summit Artspace, FRESH Art Juried Exhibition | Akron, Ohio
2017 Bridges Waterloo 2017, Mathematical Art Galleries Main Exhibit | Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
2016 Abstracting Algebra, Honors Thesis Show — University of Akron | Akron, Ohio
PUBLICATIONS
2026 Pleasure Grounds: The End of the Cul-de-Sac — Tulane University ProQuest Dissertations & Theses | New Orleans, Louisiana
2023 First Year Pride Issue — The Dollhouse Mag | Columbus, Ohio
NOTABLE ACQUISITIONS
2026 Newcomb Art Museum
AWARDS
2025 SLA Graduate Student Summer Research Grant — Tulane University | New Orleans, Louisiana
2025 CELT Classroom Enhancement Grant — Tulane University | New Orleans, Louisiana
2023 Creative Investment Program Grant — ArtsNow | Akron, Ohio
2023 Best of Editors Pick — Cleveland Magazine | Cleveland, Ohio
2020 Second Place — Summit Artspace, Fresh Art Juried Exhibition | Akron, Ohio
2020 Honorable Mention — AoRC Juried Regional Art Exhibition | Akron, Ohio
2019 First Place — Cuyahoga Valley Arts Center Human Figurative Exhibition | Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
COMMERCIAL REPRESENTATION
Heights Arts | Cleveland, Ohio
Canton Museum of Art | Canton, Ohio
Massillon Museum | Canton, Ohio
Red Wolf | Brevard, North Carolina
Duckpond Pottery | Brevard, North Carolina
Myers School of Art Gallery Shop | Akron, Ohio
Gallery 202 | Cleveland, Ohio
Hazel Tree | Akron, Ohio
Manic on Main | Wadsworth, Ohio
Gallery 143 | Green, Ohio
Theophilus | Brevard, North Carolina
INDEPENDENT PROJECTS
Hope Hickman Studios
A collaborative ceramics studio at the Portage Lakes. Owner, manager, curator, 2020–present.
Groundhog Show
An annual exhibition representing over 100 local artists. Founder, curator, 2020–2023 | Akron, Ohio.
Small Pond
A ceramic jewelry project. Owner, manager, 2020–2024.
NON-PROFIT AFFILIATIONS
Summit Artspace — Member, Artist Resource Committee
Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project — Venue Acquisition
NCECA (The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts) — Volunteer