Ask the Artist Series No. 01: Harriet Hill
Ask the Artist is a Q&A blog series where Sarah Jackson interviews artists about the work they do, their creative process, and the joys and struggles they face as an artist and a person. Each blog post focuses on a single artist in the Phoenixville art community.
Mother. Sister. Friend. Colleague. World citizen. These are just a few of the terms Harriet Hill uses to describe herself. For most of her life, Harriet lived and worked overseas learning language and culture in African villages, working to develop the linguistic heritage of marginalized people groups, and helping traumatized people experience healing when war hit. When she finally retired in 2020, Harriet became a full-time artist. She’s taken many art classes throughout her life, loves working with bright, saturated colors, and paints bold designs with clean lines.
Check out the Q&A below to find out where Harriet draws her inspiration from, how she protects her energy, and what she’d tell her past artist self.
Sarah: Where do you draw inspiration for your art?
Harriet: The art I get the most energy from is abstract, and I draw the inspiration by getting quiet and seeing what happens. It’s a little bit tricky because there’s no preconceived plan to do this or that. I just get quiet and wait and see what the voice tells me. I guess the inspiration is from all of the memory and intuitions that come out abstractly. What I’ve done more recently is sit with various paintings and see what feelings I get from them and what experiences I’ve had when I felt that. It’s working from an abstract back to a specific rather than saying, “I’m going to paint a hill with a tree on it.”
S: What’s a challenge that you deal with as an artist?
H: Believing in myself. The technical parts can be challenging, but usually, with enough help, messages, and chats, I can figure that part out. But to treasure myself and to believe in myself and to listen and to know that this is the best use of my time? I’ve got to think and believe that, even if my art isn’t selling like hotcakes. I have to separate sales from the value of my art and not define my art in monetary terms like, “People have paid money, I have this income stream, and that’s what means my art is valuable.” No, my art is valuable because I like it. Period. There we are. But hanging on to that is probably the hardest part.
S: What’s a rewarding part of being an artist?
H: Something I totally enjoy is the artist community and getting to know other artists, because they’re very interesting, fun, and creative people, especially here in Phoenixville. In Philly, I hardly ever saw the same person twice unless I was really lucky. But here there’s a group, a community, and you see each other over and over. I absolutely love that. I started doing outdoor art shows this year where you sit there with your stuff, and I absolutely love watching people come and chatting with them. The young couples, the old lady friends, the wife with her husband in tow, the little kids. It’s just wonderful to meet people. Being a flaming extrovert, I really enjoy that part of it.
S: What would you tell your past artist self?
H: Value yourself, listen to yourself, and be who you are. Figure that out, and believe in it, because in the end, that’s all you have to offer. I really tried to make up for not doing art school by taking all these classes. I learned a lot and I tried to take the whole gamut of them. I appreciate learning the various skills of perspective or color or portraits or landscapes, but in the end I had to figure out, “Now, who am I in all that? How do I use these skills to make something that is a little me?”
S: What piece or collection are you most proud of?
H: That’s kind of like asking to choose which is your favorite child, you know? And it changes day to day. Right now, I really like Cow Fantasies. It’s part of the crazy cow collection. It’s bright and bold and, as one lady at a show exclaimed, “I never thought I’d see a sexy cow!” I love it! And I love my ‘swirlies’ collection. They flow out of me like water out of a faucet. Evidently DaVinci loved swirly shapes, too.
S: Do you have any 2024 goals?
H: I am not really looking to go broad and wide, but I would like to become more established as an artist in Phoenixville. Phoenixville is such a hearty central place. It’s so unexpected. We moved here and I was like, “Oh my gosh, I’m going to leave all my art stuff in Philly and move to here, and then what?” And Sean Halloran was like, “Oh, no, there’s a lot happening here. That won’t be a problem.” And he was so right. So I would really like to participate in shows here.
S: What do you hope people take away from your art?
H: I hope my art helps them know themselves better, treasure themselves more, have hope for their life, and have faith that life is beautiful even though there’s challenges. I’d like them to treasure diversity: their own uniqueness and that of others. I worked with language communities to help them value and develop their unique language and culture. The same holds true for individuals. Everybody’s different, and appreciating and seeing the difference and saying, “Oh wow, you are so different than me, and I’m so enjoying this experience of getting to know you.” There’s that human connection that enriches life. I hope my art helps people have hope for their unique life, and have faith that life is good and beautiful even with its challenges.
S: How do you protect your energy as an artist?
H: I am a firm believer in naps. In Africa, you would take naps because if you didn’t you would end up with malaria. And if you’d say, “Oh, I’m going to tough it out and not take naps,” before long you were sick with malaria, which was not worth it. I had a collapse in 2015. I was loving my work so much that I was doing way too much, and I collapsed. I was coming back from Fiji, and I could hardly stand up at the airport. My body just stopped making energy. There was no medicine I could take to get it over with. So, I learned a lot about stress and how your body doesn’t know the difference between good stress and bad stress. And for every mountain, there’s a valley, so if you’re on the mountain, know that you’re going to need a valley, and allow yourself to rest. The preventative nap works for me as it does for Stephen Colbert.
This year you can find Harriet and her artwork at the Chester County Studio Tour in May, the Phoenixville Pride Fest and Art Fest in June, and at Art Work Gallery in a solo show in August. In the meantime, you can see her work on Instagram @harrietspaintings or check out her website harrietspaintings.com
This interview was conducted by Phoenixville-based writer and editor Sarah Jackson. Visit Sarah’s website to learn more about her work and how to get connected.
