Traces 

Don Hutson

21st January to 16th February 

Leicester Gallery is proud to present a selection of paintings by the retired De Montfort Fine Art Lecturer Don Hutson painted over the past thirty years. This exhibition has been curated by Simon Lake and supported by Kate Parsons and Alexis Hutson. 

Don Hutson was offered a place at Cheltenham School of Art and Design at the age of 12 in 1952. This place was postponed due to his father’s posting to Malaya for three years. On their return Don took his place at Cheltenham and spent 5 years doing Intermediate and National Diploma in Art & Design (Fine Art) and subsequently embarked on a year’s Art Teacher’s Training Diploma (ATD) at Birmingham University. 

After three years teaching in secondary schools Don and his wife Jenny embarked on a year’s trip which took them all around Europe and extensive parts of the Middle East including Iraq, Iran, Syria and Jordan. This adventure was an independent driving journey which allowed Don and Jenny to really explore the environment, culture and history of these countries. This had a significant impact on their thinking and his subsequent artwork. 

On their return Don spent several years continuing to teach in secondary education. He passed his Advanced Diploma in Art and Design Education at Birmingham University which resulted in an appointment at the Westhill College of Education. His dissertation for this course enabled him to apply for a post at Leicester Polytechnic in 1972. For the next 30 years Don was involved in art and design teacher education at the Polytechnic where he also undertook a M.Ed. in Aesthetic Education at Manchester University which resulted in the instigation of a PhD. He was appointed the Course Leader for the Master’s course in Art and Design Education at De Monfort University until his retirement. 

He retired from De Monfort University in 2000 and has been continuing the practice and exhibition his work which has been a continuous activity throughout his professional life. His work has been shown extensively in Leicester, but he has also exhibited at the Royal Birmingham Society of Arts Gallery, Graves Art Gallery (Open Exhibition) Sheffield Hanover Gallery Liverpool, City Gallery Leicester, Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, De Monfort University, National Art Gallery Kuala Lumpur, Nottingham and Leicester Open Exhibitions.