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Show pr ' -r wiw ii i m. mi Mm wmmt t i ing simply stating a fact. He had watched for a quarter of a century and then all of a sudden he realized he could really do it so success real success came to this mild mannered family man and the world (including (in-cluding Park City) is richerfor his works. doing not only what he LIKES to do, but what he KNOWS. And the West-the real West-is Bill Hill's forte. He grew up on a sheep ranch during the depression depres-sion and acknowledges that the family never knew there was a depression. They just lived from day to day. Bill spent many days alone on the range with the sheep. It gave him time to dream it was really the beginning begin-ning of a life long crusade. He enlisted in the army and was content when he got the job of gunner on a B-17 he was still afraid of people and liked the isolated spot the gunner occupied. oc-cupied. His audience at Athenaeum on Monday, October 25, never really found out what changed Bill Hill's life. His first popular paintings were of a religious nature (he still paints in that vein-the cover of the 1971 Days of '47 program was one of his paintings) but finally he began his saga of the West. He rates with Remington and Russell and because he lives and has lived for a good many years in Summit Park, all of this area puts Bill Hill right at the top! J THE LATEST he has done is an active scene of Indians on horseback-a stirring picture pic-ture that comes alive with color and action. He has quite recently adopted a new art form pen sketches of Indiean heads-done in sepia tones and finished with a gentle wash of color. "I can do one of these in an afternoon" he said, "and they seem to sell well." A modest man is Bill Hill. He speaks softly but with authority. auth-ority. He said, "You know, through service you can find identity. It's worth committing a lifetime to do a service for all." Bill Hill said that creativity for him is to reproduce something some-thing from his mind. "I paint a picture in my mind and then I paint that picture on canvas. That's really my secret. That's what put me into the top 12; I had a burning obsession, I didn't quit and just about five years ago things began to change for me, and the world began to recognize." He was not bragging or boast - Bill Hill. Summit Park Artist, Is Speaker for Athenaeum Club don't succeed in fine arts," he said, "until you spend a lifetime life-time in it. You become dedicated ded-icated to an idea and you never back away." BILL HILL says that the secret of a great artist is in TALL, RANGY Bill Hill stood casually in front of the Athenaeum Athen-aeum club members and admitted ad-mitted that this was his first appearance before a ladies club. Bill Hill, a native of the wilds of Star Valley in Wyoming, a lover of nature and the American Amer-ican Indian; a man who, until he was almost twenty preferred the company of his blind pony to that of people, this same Bill Hill is now enthusiastically recognized throughout the entire en-tire world as one of the 12 outstanding artists of Western lore. Recently he travelled more than 20,000 miles talking to groups about his work and about the forthcoming story of his life, "The Bill L.HillStory." HE RECOGNIZES the honor this entails "They usually wait until a man is dead before they write his life story" he shyly admitted. His talent first manifested itself when Bill was but 8 years old he copied a cartoon character char-acter from a newspaper. His parents, whether wisely or not, made little over this first attempt, at-tempt, and Bill felt a bit rebuffed. rebuff-ed. Needless to say, we now know how his mother really felt about it, 'because after forty years shej produced it and the club members were able to see it. Bill Hill has a theory all his own. There is no 'impossible' and 'can't' doesn't exist. "You |
