Brian Hawkins

Brian Hawkins is an animator whose work is concerned with the vagaries of memory and historical narratives. Early in life, he was fascinated by ragtime, a syncopated precursor to jazz that developed at the turn of the twentieth century in his home state of Missouri. He began actively researching and performing the genre as a teenager, which resulted in an award-winning documentary about the composer James Scott.



Brian first read of the disappearing Franco-American communities of Missouri while completing his thesis, and he began seriously investigating the topic in the summer of 2016. In the course of his research, he discovered that he is descended from one of the first French settlers of Sainte Genevieve, Missouri. His project, Asiminier: Folklore of the Missouri French Creoles, has resulted in a feature-length documentary celebrating their distinctive folkways. Brian received grants from Charlotte Street  and ArtsKC for this project. He recently participated in The Power of Place KU Alumni Artists at the Spencer Museum of Art. 



Brian earned his MFA in Printmaking in 2014. He currently serves as Photography and Lecturer for the Visual Art Department.