Following is the obituary of Tracy Hicks from the Dallas Morning News, Courtesy of Eleanor Harvey, Senior Curator, Smithsonian American Art Museum

"Noted Texas artist, Smithsonian fellow Tracy Hicks dies at 68 "

By Michael Granberry, October 26, 2014

Tracy Hicks, a renowned Texas artist who showed at the Dallas Museum of Art and numerous local galleries, and who later became an art fellow at the Smithsonian Institution, died Friday. He was 68.

Hicks suffered a heart attack in the mountains of North Carolina, where he and his wife, longtime Dallas journalist Victoria Loe Hicks, recently built a new home.

Born in San Antonio, Valton Tracy Hicks Jr. moved to Dallas with his family when he was a toddler. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School and lived in Dallas until moving to Atlanta in 2010.

“I met Tracy shortly after I arrived 30 years ago,” said fellow artist and close friend Barnaby Fitzgerald. “He had a beautiful, wonderful, magical studio on Routh Street, which was demolished not long ago to make room, ironically, for the Arts District.”
Fitzgerald described the studio as a whole-house haven chock full of “shelves of bottles and containers, glass containers full of artifacts. It was a mesmerizing place, and Tracy was a lot of fun. He had a great eye. He was a truly visual artist,” Fitzgerald said. But near the end of his life, his work became even more expansive, as he delved into science in ways that Fitzgerald labeled truly remarkable.

Four years ago, Hicks became part of the Smithsonian’s Artist Research Fellowship Program, which allowed him to “make friends with all these scientists,” Fitzgerald said.

“And they fell in love with him, because he was so immersed in the study of reptiles. He got very involved with the demise of the amphibians. Amphibians are dying by the millions all over the planet.”

Fitzgerald described a trip to visit Hicks in the North Carolina mountains to attend the Big Art Salamander Science Weekend. “It was wonderful,” said Fitzgerald, who shared the event with some of the top scientists in the country.

“It was incredibly inspiring, and Tracy made it happen.”

Kevin Vogel, one of the owners of Valley House Gallery, where Mr. Hicks had shown his work, called him “as much a scientist as he was an artist, and he was sort of an alchemist in putting both those elements together. I knew few people who were more concerned about the Earth and its inhabitants than he was. Everything he did was to point out the fragility of life, especially with his research in amphibians. As far as an artist, there were few his equal in the direction in which he was focused. … His heart, his intelligence, his production was always true to his wanting to show how we as a people can improve.”
In addition to Valley House, Hicks had shown at the DMA, which in 1994 staged a dual exhibition titled “Encounters 5” that featured Hicks and British artist Damien Hirst. The DMA also purchased a piece by Hicks for its permanent collection. In 1996 and 2002, he collaborated with Project Row Houses in Houston, co-creating a photo archive of Houston’s Third Ward.

Hicks staged shows at Conduit Gallery, the University of Texas at Arlington and McKinney Avenue Contemporary and in venues outside Texas.

He is survived by Victoria Loe Hicks, his second wife, a longtime staffer at The Dallas Morning News; his mother, Marilyn Larner Hicks; a son and daughter, Trae and Ashleigh Hicks; and granddaughter Luna Rae Hicks.

His wife suggests that anyone wishing to honor Hicks purchase a piece of Texas art. The family plans a Dallas memorial service in the coming months.

Born: 1946, San Antonio, Texas

Education: Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas

Solo Exhibitions:

2008 The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas
2008 Tracy Hicks: global warming installation, Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2002 Third Ward Archive, Project Row Houses, Houston, Texas
2001 SSAR (Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles), Annual Meeting, Indianapolis, Indiana
2000 Glass Towers, SITE/WORK/S, Chenevert Green, Houston, Texas
2000 Salvage Biology, LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico
1999 Correlation and Connection, CRCA The Gallery at UTA, Arlington, Texas
1998 Storeroom, Museum of East Texas, Lufkin, Texas
1997 Change/Exchange, Hickory Street Annex, Dallas, Texas
Freedmens Field, African American Museum, Dallas, Texa
1996 Third Ward Archive, Project RowHouses, Houston, Texas
1994 Encounters 5: Tracy Hicks - Damien Hirst, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas
Substance and Spirit, Lanning Gallery, Houston, Texas
1993 Marking Time - Storehouse , (an evolving exhibition), Hickory Street Annex, Dallas, Texas
1992 Patience and Change, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Patience and Time, DiverseWorks, Houston, Texas
Light and Rite, Brookhaven College, Dallas, Texas
1991 Shelf-life, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas
1989 Historical/Hysterical, Hughes-Trigg Gallery, SMU, Dallas, Texas
1986 Traveling Trophy Show, Modern Dallas Art Gallery, Dallas, Texas

Selected Group Exhibitions

2009 Flash: Photography from Dallas Galleries, CADD Art Lab, Dallas Texas
2009 Trouble in Paradise: Examining Discord between Nature and Society, Tuscon Museum of Art, Tucon, Arizona
2009 Drawing In, CADD Art Lab, Dallas, Texas
2009 Thank You Fort Worth: An Appreciation from Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden, Fort Worth Community Arts Center, Fort Worth, Texas
2008 CADD Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas Art Fair, Three Three Three First Avenue, Dallas, Texas (Valley House Gallery)
2008 College Art Association's 96th Annual Conference, Adam's Mark Hotel, Dallas, Texas
2006 Kingdom Animalia: Creatures Big and Small by Artists Old and New, Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2002 Modalities of the Visible, A survey of Contemporary Art in North Texas, Brookhaven Center for the Arts
Female body, Work of Four Women, Curated by a Man
2001 Creative itch, Gallery 414, Fort Worth, Texas
Inside & Out, Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2000 Study…Preserving a Body, "The Perfect Figure", Artscan, Houston, Texas
1999 The Aquarium Show Galveston Art Center, Galveston, Texas
Bio - Between Image and Object (curator/artist), Arlington Museum of Art, Arlington, Texas
1998 SMU Art Faculty Exhibtion, Meadows Museum, Dallas, Texas
Self Portraits Close-up and Personal, Edith Baker Gallery, Dallas, Texas
1998 Dallas Area Art - Small Works Exhibition, Lowell Collins Gallery, Houston, Texas
Do it, Boise State University Art Gallery, Boise, Idaho
1997 Horace Cardwell Collection, Museum of East Texas, Lufkin, Texas
1996 Animal Farm, Houston, Texas
SMU Faculty Exhibition, Meadows Museum, Dallas, Texas
1995 Preservation Dallas, State Thomas Gallery, Dallas, Texas
Collected, The Pollack Gallery at SMU, Dallas, Texas, Curated by Philip Van Kuren
1994 Small Objects, Inman Gallery, Houston, Texas
Brave New World, Lanning Gallery, Houston, Texas
Born Again, Arlington Museum of Art, Arlington, Texas
1993 Ready Made, City Arts Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Self Contained, Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, Texas
1992 Small Works and Installations, 500X Gallery, Dallas, Texas
1991 The State I'm In, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, Curated by Annegreth Nill
Art in the Metroplex, TCU, Fort Worth, Texas, Curated by Marilyn Zietlan
Excellence in Photography, Assemblage, Rossi Gallery, Dallas
Sculpture Invitational, Brookhaven College, Dallas, Texas
1990 Critics Choice, D-Art, Dallas, Texas, Jurors: Jeff Kelley, Susan Barnes, and Rick Bretell
Lost and Found, Edith Baker Gallery, Dallas, Texas
One Splendora Evening, Lawndale Benefit, Splendora, Texas
Looking the Other Way, Two-person exhibition with A.M. Hudson, Design Center, Dallas, Texas
Four Person Show, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas
1989 Group Show, Marvin Seline Gallery, Houston, Texas
Day of the Dead, Bath House Cultural Center, Dallas, Texas
Art in the Metroplex, TCU, Fort Worth, Texas, Juror: David Ross
Suitcase Curio Show, Co-curator with Mary Iron Eyes, Bathhouse Cultural Center, Dallas, Texas
Excellence 89, Texas Sculpture Association, Dallas, Texas
Mixed Media, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, Texas
1988 Kennedy Memorial, Texas Theater, Dallas, Texas
Self Portrait, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas
Three Person, Gallery Gorpal, Dallas, Texas
The Closing Show, DW Gallery, Dallas, Texas
Zoo Show, Dallas, Texas
Critic's Choice, D-Art, Dallas, Texas
Cityfaire, Dallas, Texas
Group Show, Abilene Museum of Art, Abilene, Texas
Ancestral Glyph, D-Art, Dallas, Texas
1987 Critic's Choice, D-Art, Dallas, Texas
Invitational Clay Exhibition, Frito-Lay Didactic Gallery, Dallas, Texas
Deep Ellum Artist's Series, Allen Street Gallery, Dallas, Texas
Heart Show, William Campbell Fine Art, Fort Worth, Texas
1986 Mask Show, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas
Critic's Choice, D-Art, Dallas, Texas
1985 No Goats for Sale, Dallas, Texas
Plate Show, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas
Texas Sculpture Symposium, Dallas, Texas

Awards, Grants and Honors:

1999 Horace Cardwell Competition, Museum of East Texas, Lufkin, Texas
1994 Dozier Travel Grant, Dallas Museum of Art
1992 NFRIG (New Forms Regional Initiative Grant), Funded through the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Warhol Foundation
1991 Art in the Metroplex, Vance Award
Awards to Excellence in Photography, The Assemblage

Selected Literature:

Terranova, Charissa N. "Art Review | Global Warning: Still/Life: Preserved precariously: Enlightenment comes with endangered-frogs installation." The Dallas Morning News, GuideLive, June 12, 2008, pages 1E, 4E, reproductions.

Armitage, Diane. "Tracy Hicks and Sherry Karver." THE Magazine, November, 2000.

Mitchell, Charles Dee. "Connecting Images and Objects." The Dallas Morning News, October 19, 1999

Aktar, Suzanne. "Flora and Fauna Specimens Inspire Ecosystem Statements" Fort Worth Star Telegram, April 11, 1999.

Van Kuren, Philip. "Naming of the World." CRCA Correlation Collection, 1999.

Daniel, Mike. "Preview: Tracy Hicks at Hickory Street Annex." The Dallas Morning News, Guide, March 28, 1997

Weiss Jeffrey. "Of a People & Possibilities." The Dallas Morning News, November 30, 1996.

Glentzer, Molly. "Art With A Heart." Hope Magazine, October 1996.

Nill, Annegreth. "Re-collections." Encounters 5, Dallas Museum of Art, July 1994.

Kutner, Janet. "Artist Imagination." The Dallas Morning News, May 1, 1994.

Kutner, Janet. "Tracy Hicks Finds Beauty in Simple Things." The Dallas Morning News, December 24, 1993.

Bass, Shermakae. "Marking Time." The Dallas Morning News, November 14, 1993.

Armitage, Diane. "Tracy Hicks at CCA." THE Magazine, January/February, 1993.

Versace, Candelora. "The Spirit of Sentimentalism." Sante Fe New Mexican, November 20, 1992.

Kalil, Susie. "Retro Radical." Houston Press, October 8, 1992.

Chadwick, Susan. "Bottled Up." Houston Post, September 25, 1992.

Teaching, Lectures, and Talks:

2009 Art Social, with David H. Gibson, CADD Art Lab, Dallas, Texas
2001 Summer Art Camp
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
1999 Correlation Collection, Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art,
1994-1995,
1997-1999 Adjunct Professor of Art, Southern Methodist University
1992-1999 Artist in Residence, Southern Methodist University
1995 Meet the Artist, Dallas Museum of Art,
Artist Talks - Robert Rauchenberg, Forth Worth Museum of Modern Art,
Imagination Celebration - High School Serial Visit, Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art