By Bonnie Gangelhoff
In JUMP!, Canadian artist Rowan Hill captures the exuberance of little girls flying up in the air on a trampoline. Hill says that when she sees such scenes, she quickly grabs a camera. “I want to remember what caught my eye. Was it a shape, a color, a mood, or an idea?” Hill explains. “It helps me maintain the initial inspiration.”
Today, she paints regularly in addition to being the mother of two young girls, Jessie and Indigo, who are portrayed in JUMP! Seven years ago she and her husband lost their infant son suddenly, and Hill recalls going through a period when she was unable to pick up a paintbrush. After her daughters were born, her desire to paint returned. “I realized that painting is more about desire and not about opportunity, as I had thought before,” she says. Hill graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communications and geography from Prescott College, where she also studied photography. She is represented by Avens Gallery, Canmore, Alberta, and www.rowanhillartist.com.
Featured in our annual “21 Over 31” feature in November 2009