Blair Hobbs
Blair Hobbs was born in Oxford, Mississippi in 1964. She grew up in Auburn, Alabama and graduated from Auburn University with a BA in English in 1986. From there, she graduated with an MA in Creative Writing from Hollins University (1990) and an MFA in Creative Writing (poetry) from the University of Michigan (1992).
For twenty-eight years, she taught writing and literature for the University of Mississippi’s English Department. Now a Senior Lecturer Emerita, she is pursuing her art career full time. Hobbs’s lifelong commitment to art came from her mother, Marleah Hobbs, who earned her MFA from the University of Mississippi and was an art professor at Auburn.
Although Hobbs pursued writing and poetry as an academic, she always felt that artwork was also a necessary form of communication. Often, she assigned ekphrastic poetry to her students. As an artist, she likes to turn ekphrasis—poetry about art—on its head and creates art that is based on poetry or lyric narratives.
For gallery shows, Hobbs begins with a show title that she imagines as a book title. Then, she creates setting by painting canvases and adds drawn and paper-cut characters depicted by the narrative. She likes to think of each finished canvas as a chapter in the metaphorical book. Bits of lyrical narrative are hand written on most of the canvases to offer some guidance for the viewer.
From March 14-May 9, Spalding Nix Fine Art in Atlanta, Georgia will show her works to celebrate Flannery O’Connor’s 100th birthday.
Her materials are diverse. Mostly, she uses acrylic paints, pencils, pens, oil pastels, embroidery thread (for sewing the canvas), handmade mulberry papers, glitter, sequins, gold leaf, candy wrappers, ribbon, and plastic placemats. She is drawn to all things sparkly and enjoys reimagining sewing-kit and craft-aisle things.
Blair Hobbs is represented by Spalding Nix Fine Art in Atlanta; Fischer Gallery in Jackson; and Southside Gallery in Oxford. In November of 2024, she taught a writing and illumination workshop at the Hambidge Center in Raybun Gap, Georgia.
In March, “Birthday Cake for Flannery” (March 2025) will be on display at Spalding Nix Fine Art in Atlanta.
Blair Hobbs was born in Oxford, Mississippi in 1964. She grew up in Auburn, Alabama and graduated from Auburn University with a BA in English in 1986. From there, she graduated with an MA in Creative Writing from Hollins University (1990) and an MFA in Creative Writing (poetry) from the University of Michigan (1992).
For twenty-eight years, she taught writing and literature for the University of Mississippi’s English Department. Now a Senior Lecturer Emerita, she is pursuing her art career full time. Hobbs’s lifelong commitment to art came from her mother, Marleah Hobbs, who earned her MFA from the University of Mississippi and was an art professor at Auburn.
Although Hobbs pursued writing and poetry as an academic, she always felt that artwork was also a necessary form of communication. Often, she assigned ekphrastic poetry to her students. As an artist, she likes to turn ekphrasis—poetry about art—on its head and creates art that is based on poetry or lyric narratives.
For gallery shows, Hobbs begins with a show title that she imagines as a book title. Then, she creates setting by painting canvases and adds drawn and paper-cut characters depicted by the narrative. She likes to think of each finished canvas as a chapter in the metaphorical book. Bits of lyrical narrative are hand written on most of the canvases to offer some guidance for the viewer.
From March 14-May 9, Spalding Nix Fine Art in Atlanta, Georgia will show her works to celebrate Flannery O’Connor’s 100th birthday.
Her materials are diverse. Mostly, she uses acrylic paints, pencils, pens, oil pastels, embroidery thread (for sewing the canvas), handmade mulberry papers, glitter, sequins, gold leaf, candy wrappers, ribbon, and plastic placemats. She is drawn to all things sparkly and enjoys reimagining sewing-kit and craft-aisle things.
Blair Hobbs is represented by Spalding Nix Fine Art in Atlanta; Fischer Gallery in Jackson; and Southside Gallery in Oxford. In November of 2024, she taught a writing and illumination workshop at the Hambidge Center in Raybun Gap, Georgia.
In March, “Birthday Cake for Flannery” (March 2025) will be on display at Spalding Nix Fine Art in Atlanta.
Books Pollinate Our Brain Gardens, by Blair Hobbs
