Jo Hanson

Jo Hanson (1918–2007) was an American environmental artist and activist. She lived in San Francisco, California. She moved to California in 1955, first living in Marin County, before settling in San Francisco in the early 1970s where she purchased and restored Nightingale House, located on Buchanan Street to landmark status. Hanson obtained a Master of Education from the University of Illinois and a Master of Fine Arts from San Francisco State University.

Hanson died at her home, of cancer, on March 13, 2007, in which she was remembered by SFGate as a "green activist" who used street trash in her work.

Career As an extension of her work on the Nightingale House, Hanson set out to address the litter on her street. Her commitment to sweeping the sidewalk outside her home evolved into a public art project and citywide initiative against littering. Hanson's work was known for incorporating the detritus she collected while sweeping. She analyzed and classified what she found as a way of documenting daily life in her district and felt that it reflected a disconnect between the consumption and production of goods and the natural world.

For six years during the 1980s Hanson was a vocal member of the San Francisco Arts Commission pushing for the inclusion of underrepresented artists in the city's art collections, specifically women and people of color. She also played a key role in saving the murals of Coit Tower, and the restoration of the murals at Golden Gate Park's Beach Chalet. The residency assists artists who use discarded materials in their art and raises public awareness about recycling.

Hanson co-founded Women Eco Artists Dialog (WEAD), a directory of artists and researchers working with environmental themes in 1996.

A 2002 profile on Hanson in Body & Soul stated: "Part sociology, part ecology, Jo Hanson's artwork reflects her curiosity and understanding of how living things—people, plants, animals—live and work together. She remains excited by the newer artists and the new collaborative projects springing up all over."

Awards Hanson was awarded with a National Endowment for the Arts Artist's Fellowship in 1977, a Visual Arts Project Grant in 1979. The Fresno Art Museum Council of 100 recognized her as a Distinguished Woman Artist in 1998. The National Women's Caucus for Art honored her with an Outstanding Achievement in Visual Arts award in 1997. Crab Orchard Cemetery has subsequently shown in two posthumous solo exhibitions at the Peninsula Museum of Art, in 2009 and again in 2021. It was exhibited again in 2025–26 at the Fresno Art Museum.

Archives Hanson's archives are located with several institutions including the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. Crab Orchard Cemetery is in the permanent collection of the Fresno Art Museum. It was acquired as a gift from the Peninsula Museum of Art in San Bruno, California in 2023.