Image: Untitled (Tulips), 2022, inkjet print, 24 x 20 inches

The Cherry Blossoms You Missed 

Kathleen Hawkes

On view March 29 - August 31, 2025

Opening Reception | Saturday, April 5, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Artist Spotlight Tour | Saturday, July 26, 1:00 - 1:45 PM

Join the artist for a gallery talk exploring her work and creative process. Artist Spotlight Tours are free with admission and no reservations are required.

Trigger warning: This exhibition contains artworks with references to addiction, eating disorders, and grieving.

Resources: 

• National Alliance for Eating Disorders Helpline: 1 (866) 662-1235 , Monday-Friday, 9am-7pm ET

• If you are in crisis, call or text Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988 [Spanish speaking services and for Deaf & Hard of Hearing] or text Crisis Text Line: “HOME” to 741-741. [Spanish speaking services]

All the objects in the exhibition were photographed with consent.

About the Exhibition

The Rochester Art Center presents a solo exhibition of photographic works by artist Kathleen Hawkes. Hawkes' still life photographs are a response to the unexpected death of a close friend. Through her compositions, Hawkes investigates grief, regret, and the inherent limitations of personal relationships. Hawkes’ work serves as a personal narrative and a complex portrait of a dear friend, from her singular vantage point, pieced together from belongings left behind.

About the Artist

Kathleen Hawkes (b. 1983) is a visual artist whose practice interweaves photographic processes, drawing, digital constructions, and installation. Through her artworks she explores ideas of slow erosion, subtle shifts in equilibrium, loss, and an ever-changing sense of belonging. Hawkes earned her BFA from Cornell University and her MFA from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. In 2012, Hawkes was granted a Fulbright fellowship to travel to the South Pacific where she lived as a child and photograph domestic spaces. She is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Art at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse. Hawkes lives with her family in Winona, Minnesota. 

Learn more about the artist on her website: https://www.kathleenhawkes.com/

Kathleen Hawkes is a 2024 recipient of a Southeastern Minnesota Individual Artist Grant. This activity is made possible through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council in cooperation with a private foundation.