Join us for our kickoff to the 2020 International Cherry Blossom Festival as we welcome the Hulgan Family to Travis Emporium Jean.

Mary Hulgan

Mary Essie Scruggs Hulgan, 1920 – 1991, adroitly captured every detail! Talented in her youth, Mary drew with photo realism, the stars of her day, such as the Dionne quintuplets and Shirley Temple. In 1936, she was offered an art scholarship, which was a great honor for women of that day, but she had met and fallen in love with the love of her life, Joe Hulgan. She and Joe married. In 1948, they started Macon Letter Service which capitalized on Mary’s artistic talents.

In the 1970’s, Mary refocused on her fine art; she began with acrylics. For years, she studied at The La Famiglia Studio of Theresa Rhett English. She also studied with Eugenia Simmons, Ralph Taylor and many others. It was Eugenia Simmons who “sold” her on watercolors. Watercolors became Mary Hulgan’s medium of choice. Mary’s works wereoften selected to be in The Georgia Watercolor Society and even the National Show at The High Museum of Art in Atlanta. The painting, Basket of Love, started the limited edition reproduction aspect of Mary’s career. The original was purchased from The High Museum Show by a collector. Many others wanted it; thus, the first of Mary Hulgan’s 60+ limited editions were published.

During her lifetime, J. Hulgan Consultants & Art Promotions, published and distributed her artwork to over 500 galleries in the United States and Canada. Mary’s work can be seen around the world.

She has a definite, recognizable style of intricate detail! Her favorite subject matter was: dolls, toys, florals and carrousels. She was a wonderful artist, mother and human being!

Joy Hulgan

Joy Hulgan, 1945 – 2014, lived as an artist. Emile Zola is quoted, “..as an artist, I came to live out loud.” Joy lived out loud. Her favorite media were pen-and-ink and oils. She deftly captured landmarks, points-of interest and colleges and universities in pen-and-ink. She also painted landscapes and portraits in oil.

Born into the artistic Hulgan family, she always dabbled with art in her youth. Mother, Mary Hulgan, always encouraged art expression and allowed all her children to work with ‘real’ art tools. Joy began her formal art study at the University of Georgia and completed her degree at Mercer University with a double major, earning a BA in Art and Economics. She continued her art education studying portraiture at The Chatov Studio with Roman, Constantine and Marc Chatov.

In her lifetime, she mastered many commission pieces and created over 100 pen-and-ink reproduction editions. She continued her quest for realism in her work throughout she career. She was devoted to her artwork and loved creating art.

Jan Hulgan Hutchinson

Jan creates the most beautiful calligraphy which she learned from her mother, Mary and her sister, Joy, as she watched them work at Macon Letter Service years ago. Whether it’s an invitation, envelope, place card, poem or anything beautifully written, they are works of art. She also expresses her artistic flair by adding illustrations or illumination to the pieces. Today, Jan calligraphies hours a day! Her lines are divine, her swirls just right.

Jan received her BA at The University of Georgia in Fine Arts in 1976 with a concentration in ceramics. On the potter’s wheel, Jan threw beautiful pieces of interesting shapes. A main fascination for her was glaze chemistry; she formulated some glorious glazes during her days at UGA.

Another great Jan expression of art is with her camera. Over many years, Jan has been the one in the family to capture the moments. For a short while, Jan was the photographer for The Middle Georgia Regional Development Commission. She snaps great photos!

Jil Hulgan Pinkston

Immersed in art growing up in the artistic Hulgan family, Jil’s crayon art of monkeys in the trees made the bulletin board in elementary school; however, Jil pursued science major in college with an art minor. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, art was her full-time business with J. Hulgan Consultants & Art Promotions with her sister, Joy and brother, Jef. J. Hulgan published and distributed Hulgan artwork to over 500 galleries in the United States and Canada.

Jil works primarily in watercolors and paints, fruits, vegetable and sea shells. Other favorite art forms are crocheting and ceramics. Studying ceramics with the very talented, Roger Jamison at Mercer University before and after graduation, her favorite construction is slab building because it affords a greater range of geometry. Often Jil would lay a crocheted piece on the slab before rolling to create interesting textured design elements in her pieces. Jil also teaches art at Magnolia Manor Independent Living for Seniors. Jil also teaches science enrichment at Stratford Academy pre-school and lower school.

She received by B.S. in biology from Mercer University in 1979. There she studied art as well. Subsequently, she studied at The Artists’ Atelier with Marc Chatov in Atlanta with her sister Joy in the 1990’s. According to Jil – “True Art is Science; true Science is Art!” Jil is delighted by the science of light and color and the trompe l’oeil aspect of art.

Jeffery Lee Hulgan

From when he first picked up a pencil, Jef has been drawing houses and cars. Riding through the countryside with Mama and Daddy driving us somewhere, Jef would the drawing a house or fast car.

God-gifted with the largest dose of natural talent into a family with plenty of talent, Jef has a natural eye most like Mama’s genius.

His art expression is through his architecture and his oil portraits. They speak for themselves. His portraits of family members are not for sale, but commissions are available.

In Atlanta, Jef studied architecture at Southern Polytechnic State in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. You may know Jef’s residential architecture business. Artists en Residence has been creating architectural designs for 25 years. Many of his house can be seen on Lake Sinclair and Lake Oconee and throughout Middle Georgia. They are beautifully situated in their spots.