Journey through the unconventional life of Harlan Hubbard, Kentucky’s own visionary artist, writer and sustainability pioneer, during the next NKY History Hour on Tuesday, February 11, at 6:30 p.m.
Join BCM on Zoom or Facebook Live as Jessica K. Whitehead, curator, historian and author of Driftwood: The Life of Harlan Hubbard, delves into the life and legacy of one of Kentucky’s most fascinating and influential figures.
Harlan Hubbard (1900–1988) was an artist, writer, and environmentalist whose simple yet profound way of life continues to inspire. Best known for his shantyboat journey down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers with his wife, Anna, and their self-sustaining homestead at Payne Hollow, Hubbard’s life embodied the ideals of simplicity, creativity and ecological responsibility.
Jessica K. Whitehead’s biography, Driftwood: The Life of Harlan Hubbard, sheds new light on Hubbard’s journey from a restless young man to a confident Transcendentalist thinker, offering insights into his philosophies on art, nature and sustainable living. The biography has been praised as “a wonder-filled vehicle to travel through the lives of two remarkable human beings” and “the definitive biography of Harlan Hubbard.”
Register and participate in the free virtual presentation by Behringer-Crawford Museum online.
After registration, information on connecting to the Zoom session will be sent. The event will also be streamed live on BCM’s Facebook page. All recordings of past episodes can be viewed at www.bcmuseum.org.
Jessica Whitehead is the Curator of Collections for the Kentucky Derby Museum and has recently written The History of the Kentucky Derby in 75 Objects, published through University Press of Kentucky. Outside of the Derby Museum, Jessica has studied Harlan Hubbard since her student days at Hanover (Class of 2011), curating multiple exhibits in the region and providing the introduction to The Watercolors of Harlan Hubbard, released in 2021.
The highly anticipated Driftwood, curated by Jessica Whitehead and based on her book Driftwood: The Life of Harlan Hubbard, will debut as an exhibit on April 13 at Behringer-Crawford Museum. She served as a founding board member of the new non-profit Payne Hollow on the Ohio, where she still manages its collection of artifacts. She is currently a board member for the Kentucky Museum & Heritage Alliance.
NKY History Hour programs occur every other Tuesday evening from 6:30-7:30 p.m. and are free to the public. To support NKY History Hour and access many other entertaining and thought-provoking programs for free, join BCM today.
Behringer-Crawford Museum