Arkansas Artist Showcase | Nancy Leigh Hillis

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Nancy Leigh Hillis
Nancy Leigh Hillis

I love the materials of art: the firmness of a hog bristle brush, the creamy thickness of oil paint, the texture of bark paper, the smell of plaster. I love stepping into the mystery of creation; not knowing what is going to happen and being astonished by the image that emerges. I’m drawn to exploring the reaches of the imagination and the orphaned off parts of the self. I like to see what bubbles up from the unconscious mind.

Recently, I’ve been exploring the landscape, as well as abstract figurative work in oils and mixed media/collage. I am interested in painting alla prima (in one sitting), as well as employing expressive, impasto paint strokes, whether I am painting the figure or the landscape. Clint Watson, in “The Informed Collector” wrote that my figurative work embodies “a sense of archetypal forms deeply rooted with psychological and symbolic meaning”.

Unknown Crop Scale
Facing The Unknown Crop Scale
by artist Nancy Leigh Hillis

When I was four, I'd color the old used bricks of our fireplace and ledge (which my father had so beautifully built and which took up an entire 24 foot wall) with my favorite colors: red and purple. My parents could never catch me. They knew it was me, and I knew that they knew it was me. I left clues. I colored most of the rocks in our backyard, and even the tree bark. I made marks on every clean sheet of paper in the house.

I never had an art class growing up. I desperately wanted to make things, so I began sewing little crazy quilts at four or five, especially when I'd visit Granny and Papa in Tomahawk, Arkansas. Granny had quilts made from the clothes she and her family had worn. She adorned every bed with her quilts. She kept her family warm with her quilts. She lived with her art.

As I grew up, the recurring concern for my parents, was that I would never be practical, that I had my head in the clouds. The deeper truth was that I was dreaming of what was not, and asking“Why not?”.

In seventh grade, I announced to my mother and her best friend I was going to be a psychiatrist.

Bay Lands from the Pier
Bay Lands From The Pier
by artist Nancy Leigh Hillis

I did become a physician. At 25, I made it to Harvard, where I accepted a residency in Radiology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. I was on top of the world until I realized that Radiology, one of the most competitive and “hot” areas of Medicine then (and now), was not my true calling. So I called Stanford and was accepted into the Psychiatry program, at which point my mother reminded me of my 13 year old proclamation that I would become a psychiatrist. Only then did I remember!

Psychiatry is considered the most vague field in Medicine, as well as the most fluid and creative. It is the only part of medicine I can live with. Choosing Psychiatry was an act of coming back to my own self. So much of my work in psychotherapy is exploring the mysterious, unknown parts of the self. In this work, I realized that I had some unlived, orphaned off parts of myself that had been patiently waiting to be rediscovered

Warm Reflections
Warm Reflections
by artist Nancy Leigh Hillis

I found my way back to my art, back to making things, making marks, using colors. My parents no longer worry about my dreaminess. When I left Radiology in favor of Psychiatry, John Shillito, M.D., a neurosurgeon at the Brigham said: “you went from shadows to nuances”. Now I would say to John: “ I've come full circle to shadows again”. I've come home.

 

 

 

 

Selected Exhibitions

  • Exhibition of “Connection” multimedia painting, Arkansas State Capitol, Little Rock, Arkansas, July-September 2009
  • Solo Exhibition, Many Hands Gallery, En Plein Air: California Landscapes, Capitola, CA, September-October 2009
  • Group Exhibition, Santa Cruz Art League, 79th Annual Statewide Exhibition: Irreplaceable Places: California Landscape, Santa Cruz, CA, June 2009
  • Two Woman Exhibition, Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, Listening To Nature: Musique Plein Air, Santa Cruz, CA, April 2009
  • Group Exhibition, Harmonics, Inc., Going Green: Eight Collages Using Found and Reusable Materials, Sunnyvale, CA, Jan-April 2009
  • Group Exhibition, Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, CA, December 2008
  • Solo Exhibition, Cultural Council of Santa Cruz, Open Studios, October 2007, 2008
  • Solo Exhibition, Santa Cruz Pulmonary Group, Abstract Figurative and Equestrian Collage, June 2008
  • Solo Exhibition, Surf City Coffee Company, Abstract Figurative and Equestrian Collage, May 2008
  • Group Exhibition, Triton Museum of Art, Visual Artists’ Associations Summit At The Triton, Santa Clara, CA, May 1998
  • Group Exhibition, Sanchez Art Center, Arts on Fire, Pacifica, CA, February 1998

Galleries

  • Gallerie Amsterdam, Carmel-By-the-Sea, California
  • Many Hands Gallery, Capitola, California
  • Phoebe’s Gallery, Capitola, California

Selected Publications

  • Santa Cruz Record, Featured Artist, “Nancy Leigh Hillis”, March 24, 2009
  • Informed Collector Newsletter, “Informed Collector Recommends: Nancy Leigh Hillis: “her provocative abstract figurative oil paintings and contemporary collage work embody a sense of archetypal forms. Her artistic expression is deeply rooted in psychological and symbolic meaning”, March 16, 2009
  • Metro Santa Cruz, Article, “House Calls: Insider Art: the next three weekends offer visitors the chance to visit the studios of 300 Santa Cruz artists, including Nancy Leigh Hillis of Aptos, whose collage, ‘No Other’ is pictured above ”, October 3-10, 2007
  • Register-Pajaronian, Article, “Aptos Psychiatrist Finds Solace In Art: Nancy Leigh Hillis of Aptos poses with collages at her home Saturday during the Open Studios Art Tour. ‘A lot of my work is about relationships,’ said Hillis, a professional psychiatrist”, October 8, 2008

Education

  • Studied plein air painting with Brigitte Curt and Jim Smyth, founders, California Academy of Painters, Palo Alto, CA, 1996-1999
  • Studied oil painting with Tim Craighead, Stanford University, 1995
  • Psychiatry, Stanford University, 1993
  • Diagnostic Radiology, Harvard, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 1987
  • Medical Doctor, University of Arkansas, 1986
  • Bachelor of Arts, Chemistry, University of Arkansas, 1981

Contact Information

(831) 661-0834
http://nancyleighhillis.com