My work tends to lead me into other cultures; they are private cultures

made mostly of my interior space. My sculptures are thought things as

philosopher Hannah Arendt argued about works of art. The sculpture for

a long time has been constructed in the ways the indigenous peoples of

North America, the British Isles and of the Oceanic areas construct

utilitarian and ceremonial objects. I'm creating objects to tell a new

story about cosmology, the way the ancients tracked the cosmos and told

stories of the stars. I am dealing with the problems of conceptually

blending contemporary concerns with what I see as related structures

and ideas from the earliest days of civilization. A number of concerns

and interests have directed this search: the timeless mystery of the

ruins and artifacts of the ancients and architecture, engineered

structures and cosmology of the modern era. Working with tactile issues

with a powerful and primal sensitivity it is my struggle to reconcile

these disparate but fundamentally related forces which have influenced

and continue to fuel my present work by maintaining close human contact

with the materials I use.
This way of using material comes from my interest in archeology and

goes back to my youth when I worked for The Museum of Natural History

in Dayton, Ohio digging on a Fort Ancient Indian site and regularly

stopping at the Serpent Mound with my family. This construction method

was furthered from being exposed to the Land Artists of the 70's

(Michael Heizer, Robert Smithson, David Nash, et al.) and later from

artists like Magdalena Abakanowicz, Eva Hesse, and Martin Puryear.

John Hylton 2008

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2009 "Observatory Station" an installation by John Hylton, Accident Gallery, Eureka, CA

2005 "Stick and Stones, work by John Hylton", Olive Hyde Gallery, Fremont, CA
2004 "Diagrams for Professor Hawking", San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art
(Night Moves), San Jose, CA
2003 Neutron Star/Dent in the Fabric of Time, Close Binary Pair with full Roche Lobe,
Fishtrap/Ghost Fish, Santa Clara Convention Center, City Hall, Santa Clara, CA
2002 "Diagrams for Professor Hawking." Monterey Peninsula College, Monterey, CA
2000 "Recent Sculpture of John Hylton", Rogue Community College, Grants Pass, OR
"John Hylton, Mixed Media Sculpture", Ventura College, Ventura CA
"The Sculpture of John Hylton", Truckee Meadows College, Reno, NV
1998 "Corwgls, Curraghs, and Fishtraps." The Santa Cruz Art Center, Santa Cruz, CA
1994 "Engineered Art: Sculpture of John Hylton." Southern Oregon State College,
Ashland, OR

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2006 "Multiple Choice: A Juried Mixed Media Exhibition", Cabrillo College, CA
2006 "Sculpture IS", Pajaro Valley Arts Council Gallery, Watsonville, CA
2006 "Threads, Fibers and Constructions, The Fine Art of Textiles",
Pajaro Valley Arts Council Gallery, Watsonville, CA
2003 "The Moment After", Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA
2003 "California Coastline", The Canvas Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2003 "El Rio/The River: Artist's Impressions", Museum of Art and History,
Santa Cruz, CA
2003 "Artists at the Edge", Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, CA
2002 "Wood wards", Arts Benicia Center Gallery, Benicia, CA Robert Brady, juror, "Multiple Universe" received juror's award.
2001 "Juried All-Media Exhibition, 2001", Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, CA
1999 "American Portfolio II", Chemeketa Community College, Salem, OR
"Erudite II" Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA
1997 "Erudite, The Art of the Cabrillo College Art Department Staff" Cabrillo College.

ARTICLES

Satish, Arathi. "Timeless Mysteries Revealed in Sticks and Stones", Tri-City Voice, February 2005
Chesky, Laurel. "Art Not Bombs, Cabrillo Gallery show contemplates war, terror and the failings of humankind.", The Goodtimes, September 2003
Woodard, Josef. "Pleasant Puzzlements", The Los Angeles Times, March 2000
Buckner, Marie. "Natural Material Marries Art", Ventura College Press, March 2000
Fairfax, Kirby. "Two Distict Shows at the College", Ventura County Reporter, March 2000