What makes red, white, and black so special? What are the first pigments artists have used? How did they expand their palette to include yellow, orange, green, and blue? William Hyder, Research Associate, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, will speak about the use of natural pigments spanning from prehistoric art - with an emphasis on the Chumash - to today’s contemporary art practices.

William Hyder is a retired UC Santa Cruz administrator with MAs in Political Science and Anthropology from UC Santa Barbara. He is a past president of the American Rock Art Research Association and is currently a board member of the California Rock Art Foundation. In addition to numerous articles, presentations, and monographs, Hyder is actively engaged in numismatic research (coin collecting). Three books he co-edited received awards as the best books of the year devoted to the study of tokens and medals. He remains involved in archaeology and numismatics as an independent researcher and through designing and producing publications.