Wildflowers of Colorado, Alice Stewart Hill, Watercolor on Paper
Artist Biography
In 1894, Alice Stewart Hill joined her family in Colorado Springs, having lived with them earlier in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Her father, George H. Stewart, was a judge. She arrived in Colorado with solid credentials in art, having studies in New York at Cooper Union’s School of Design. In her new Colorado home, she opened a studio offering classes in drawing, watercolor, and oil painting.
Colorado Springs was barely underway at the time, having been founded in 1871 by the railroad builder, William Jackson Palmer. Though Hill’s new home was still a frontier town when she arrived there, the largely monied and educated newcomers who settled the city were appreciative of art and culture. Because the city was new and small — hardly a city at all — its natural surroundings were unsullied. During mild seasons, wild flowers grew everywhere. Hill took notice, studied and recorded them in drawings, watercolors, and etchings. Her evolving plant expertise draw acclaim from profession botanists, including Asa Gray of Harvard, a leader in botany studies.
Hill’s flower illustrations appeared in several publications, among them Helen Hunt Jackson’s The Procession of Flowers in Colorado (1886). Tutt Library at Colorado College and the Denver Public Library have copies from the limited edition of 100.
Hill was married to Francis Hill, regarded as an “austere Englishman,” who founded the region’s Humane Society in 1896 and is buried at Evergreen cemetery in Colorado Springs.
Pulling Myself Together, Suzy Gardner, Porcelain, Clay, Steel, Wood
Artist Statement
A native of Western Colorado, I am the descendant of Colorado pioneers, cowboys, miners, American Indians, and artists. I love “feeling” the stories of my heritage and my life through my art. I’ve found that Artists plan … and Art laughs … I may start with an idea, but the art goes where it goes! A lot of times the story that comes out may not even resemble the idea I started with; but the piece has created the feelings I felt at the time. My piece, Pulling Myself Together, now in the permanent collection of the Pioneers Museum, started out as a simple wall hanging mask made of porcelain ceramic. I wanted it to be rough around the edges, a little world worn ….but … Artist’s Plan and Art Laughs! It wasn’t turning out the way I wanted, the edges kept breaking off and I felt like I was being torn asunder … I mean the piece was being torn asunder 😉. Life was putting me through a stressful point right then, and I realized life was imitating art. I needed to pull myself together! And pull the piece together. I was feeling like all my parts were off in the ether. I wanted the viewer to feel the 3-D ness of what I was feeling. That’s where the steel bars came from. How could I take these pieces (and I broke off a few more … very satisfying), how could I make these pieces look 3-D and coming at me and “pulling together”. I love that the piece isn’t what I planned at all, but so totally ‘says” how I was feeling. Artists Plan…Art Laughs.
Untitled, Margaret Wilson, Wool
