Ethel Hills grew up amidst the orchards, fields and hills of Hollis, New Hampshire. While completing her B.A. at the University of New Hampshire, she fell in love with the marshes and beaches of the seacoast region and eventually settled in Hampton.  

The limitations of size and time have helped to shape Hills’s artistic outlook. Hills’s latest variation on this theme is a series of small format mixed media collages done on wooden panels. Her collages are slowly crafted from both bits of discarded paintings and pieces painted specifically for the collages. The process of preparing papers by tearing, cutting and repainting, then arranging and gluing the layers, fits well with smaller blocks of time.

MIXED MEDIA BY ETHEL HILLS AT THE BLUE MOON  

Hills says, "Although my work suggests the landscape, my intention is not to describe a specific time and place, but to coax the viewer into looking beyond the obvious. I always like to leave room for viewers to bring their own memories and experiences to the work. I think that’s one of the advantages of working more abstractly. The paintings become more open to interpretation, making the viewer an active participant in the process."  

Hills has exhibited in numerous juried shows in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine. She is an active member of many several arts organizations, including New Hampshire Art Association, Women’s Caucus for Art and the New England Abstract Artists Group.

Color Block #1 -- Mixed Media Collage on Wooden Panel by Ethel Hills of Hampton