1,500 Paintings from Jennie Hicks
Not all Nebraska pioneer women painted mountain scenes. No mountains are in southeast Nebraska other than some rugged hills. Jennie Hicks, born in 1879, painted mountain scenes, as well as other subjects, and described it as a hobby while making quilts and being an active member of the town of Farnam, Nebraska, in Dawson County. No formal lessons, and no art galleries, but her great-grandson, Bruce Whitacre, said she had painted 1,500 pictures in oil and sold about 1,000 of them at three to four dollars each.
Bruce Whitacre also said she sold paintings to people in Hollywood, Britain, and Canada. Bruce spoke at the Red Cloud Opera House at the Free Author Talk for National Poetry Month about his great grandmother, and read from his first poetry book, “The Elk in the Glade: The World of Pioneer Painter Jennie Hicks.” Published by Crown Rock Media.
The opera house is part of the National Willa Cather Center Bookstore. Willa Cather lived in Red Cloud, and then in New York City, just as Bruce does now.
Bruce grew up in Kearney, Nebraska, went to college, and landed in New York City.
Attended well, Bruce has other stops in Nebraska for his poetry tour.
In the art gallery area where the reading took place, there was a display of paintings by Jude Martindale, all of sandhill cranes.
JENNIE FITCH HICKS (NEBRASKA) VTG SIGNED ORIG OIL PAINTING MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE | eBay
April 20, at 7pm, Museum of the High Plains in McCook, Nebraska.
April 22, at 2pm, Barnes and Noble Southpointe in Lincoln, Nebraska.
April 23, at 1pm, The Bookworm in Omaha, Nebraska.
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- Bruce Whiteacre, poetry reading
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- Bruce Whiteacre, poetry reading at podium
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- Jude Martindale, sandhill crane
Sharon Black has been writing for many years including newspapers, short stories, and as a publisher. She was born in Nebraska and has lived in Kansas most of her life. In her hometown of Smith Center, Kansas, Willa Cather’s hometown is to the north and Bob Dole’s hometown is to the south. Sharon is a press release writer for the National Parks Arts Foundation and writes for b U n e k e magazine. The biggest project she has accomplished is the co-writer of the TV movie Home on the Range. The movie is about the song, which is the state song of Kansas and the lawsuit surrounding it in the 1930s and finding the rightful author of the song. Sharon is distantly related to the Mississippi writer Eudora Welty.
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