Hickman grad, Fulton native Nick Cave to headline Westminster College symposium

From mid-Missouri to the world, Nick Cave has reshaped the contemporary art landscape. 

A 1977 graduate of Hickman High School, Cave's sculptures, mixed-media pieces and performance art have dazzled viewers in galleries and museums around the world — and in everyday locales such as New York City subway stations.

Cave returns to his birthplace — Fulton — next month as one of the plenary speakers for Westminster College's 17th Hancock Symposium, to be held Sept. 14-16.

Other plenary speakers include "technology evangelist" Tyler Merritt of the company UneeQ and Columbia's own Jordan Reeves, a teenaged disability advocate whose work stretches across design, publishing, television, public speaking and more.  

Cave's 'multi-dimensional' approach

Cave owns a wide imagination and the skill set to see his visions become realities. Much of his oeuvre revolves around sculpture and performance art; he is also an Alvin Ailey-trained dancer.

Among his best-known bodies of work is a series of "Soundsuit" sculptures, wearable fabric pieces that often repurpose found materials. Initiated in the wake of Rodney King's beating by Los Angeles police in 1991, Soundsuits overcome "the distinctions between 'fine art' and 'craft,' as well as 'performance' and 'street' art," the Brooklyn Museum notes on its website.

They "also serve as a sort of armor, protecting against the violence of racial stereotypes and giving their wearers an outsize, fanciful, and transcendent presence," the museum adds.

"I'm multi-dimensional — I'm interested in all of these variables and in understanding their place within the context of the work," Cave said of his broader creative output in a 2013 Artspace interview. 'It's a lot of juggling, but for me it's really about bringing all of that together and finding harmony and balance."

A practiced educator who now teaches at the Art Institute of Chicago, Cave's perspective is a perfect fit for the Westminster setting. 

"As a professor, I feel that the most important thing is to make sure that students get a full-circle experience, and that they leave school knowing how to trust themselves," he told Artspace.

"An Evening with Nick Cave" takes place as part of the symposium at 7 p.m. Sept 14. 

Other speakers of interest

The Hancock Symposium lineup features speakers in a wide variety of fields, including law, business, technology, medicine and education.

Other speakers of interest include former Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers and Atlanta Falcons assistant coach Katie Sowers, both the first woman and first openly gay person to coach in the Super Bowl. 

Former Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, who held the office from 2009 to 2017, is part of this year's lineup. And from the entertainment world, former Westminster faculty member Colleen O'Brien will appear. O'Brien has published fiction and poetry books, and recently worked on the TV adaptation of Emily St. John Mandel's novel "Station Eleven," a past Daniel Boone Regional Library One Read. 

Ragtag, EquipmentShare, VU all represented

Several other breakout and workshop speakers figure to interest mid-Missourians.

Among them: Ragtag Film Society co-custodian Barbie Banks; EquipmentShare CEO and co-founder Jabbok Schlacks; Veterans United Diversity and Inclusion Program Manager Secily Devese; and well-regarded Columbia artist and jeweler Kenny Greene — who will also moderate the Nick Cave event.

For more information and a full symposium schedule, visit https://www.wcmo.edu/symposium/general/index.html. 

Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731. Find him on Twitter @aarikdanielsen.