Bethanne Hill isn’t trying to create realistic scenes in her paintings. “It’s like storytelling,” she says, “where embellishing with lots of details makes it interesting.”
For Bethanne Hill, the combination of academics and art in her early education was a life-changing experience. “[I] learned to talk and think about art and keep my eyes open all the time as I moved around the landscape for things that would feed into the work,” she says. Bethanne credits her many art instructors with teaching her not only techniques but also how to be an artist.
“There was a time,” she says, “when I thought [artists] had to be struck by inspiration. It comes to you, and then in a swoop you make the art.” But, she explained, she has learned that being an artist has a lot more to do with showing up, making marks, writing notes, and paying attention as you move around during the day. “Then you’ve given yourself all the bits and pieces, and the ‘inspiration’ shows up when you show up. That’s how I was taught to work,” Bethanne shares.
She describes her style as folk art, though technically only untrained artists’ work can hold that classification. Rural imagery runs throughout her paintings, inspired by her experience of growing up in the South and her parents’ shared memories of farm life in rural Ohio.
Bethanne participates in gallery shows throughout the year and accepts various commissions. She compares the commissions to a kind of puzzle. The client will come and talk about what they are interested in and what kind of images they are drawn to while she takes notes. She asks if they want the work on wood, paper, or canvas, if they want pets or certain buildings included, and if they want a UFO in it as well. Then they usually tell her to just do her thing, which is exactly what she loves to hear.
“A child came into my booth [at an art show] one time and called my art ‘backyard style,’ and I really loved that.”