Tom Hickman - "One Man and His Needle"
One Man and His Needle”, An extraordinary collection of recent and retrospective works by Tom Hickman.
In my catalogue notes for Tom Hickman’s one-man exhibition with us in 2021, I described him as “a 68-year-old emerging artist”.
Following the extraordinary success of that show and the nationwide exposure he was subject to when winning the 2022 BBC Scotland’s “Home of the year”, I think it is fair to say that his status has changed.
As you will note from his forward, he has emerged slightly battered from his experiences with cancer, but as full of creative energy and appetite as ever. He is an extraordinary man.
When we originally discussed this second show, he wanted it to be a retrospective, showing works he had made over the last 10-15 years and squirreled away, not wanting to share or part with. That was at a time shortly after his diagnosis, when he was fearful that he may not have the energy or desire to make new works. I told him we would be delighted to continue to represent him and to show whatever he chose.
Of course, irrepressible as he is, Tom has produced a wonderfully comprehensive and diverse collection for this exhibition, which includes an extraordinary range of historic pieces and an exciting body of recent work, made before, during and between his treatments.
Untrained and self-taught, Hickman’s needlework and fabric collage techniques are unique, and his vision inspired. He explores his chosen medium with invention and respects no boundaries. He draws inspiration from the country and landscape around him in the Outer Hebrides, working with local wool and salvaged off cuts of regional tweed.
Curious, inventive, alternative and individual, he could be described as a modern-day Outsider and is unquestionably as an Artist who has emerged.
It is our pleasure and privilege to show his work.
6-16 December 2023
A fully illustrated E-Catalogue of the show is available.
