Artwork copyright Peggy Hitchcock. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2016.

Artwork copyright Peggy Hitchcock. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Autumn Fruit, 1995

Peggy Hitchcock
(American, born 1951)

Location: Mount Baker Junior/Senior High School, Deming

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Autumn Fruit is part of a series of paintings by artist Peggy Hitchcock comprised of grape-like forms. On a patterned background of silkscreened imagery, the grape forms are arranged in an improvised "constellation." They combine screen printing and painting to highlight color, texture, and form: “With stems for noses they appear to be facing a variety of directions... The grapes are a finite set with infinite possible compositions analogous to musical notes with inexhaustible scores.” Hitchcock notes that "our history with [grapes] is ageless. Sustenance, harvesting, wine and communion are among the associations with this fruit. Ironically, by removing these grapes from their bunches, they lose their instant identity."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Mount Baker School District.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Northwest artist Peggy Hitchcock creates paintings and wall sculptures that explore pattern and form. In most of her artworks, she uses silkscreened and photocopied images based on books, magazines, and other media. She has a library of hundreds of screens that reference history, decorative patterns, the natural world, and much more. Hitchcock explains that part of the beauty of art is that it is "language for our eyes." She grew up in Ohio and has lived and worked in Seattle since the early 1980s.