april | artist…

Graham Foster

Q & A with Scott Hill

Why are you an artist?

Up until my late teens I wanted to be a fisherman, but then the art bug started to take more of a hold, and gradually became more of an obsession. As I work largely from imagination, I’d see something in my mind’s eye and have to express it either in a two D or three D form. Maybe it is some genetic thing, as there’s a few artists scattered about the family tree but I know there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing, even though it can be a financially precarious career choice! I got very lucky, as few people have this kind of definite career path.

Was there anyone that inspired you to get into the arts?

When I was 18, I spent a year in London on an Art Foundation course. As an island boy let loose in the big city I had some catching up to do, so the partying overtook the art. After failing to get into any art schools, I returned to Bermuda facing the grim possibility of a haircut and a real job! I enrolled on an Art Diploma Course at Bermuda College. Part of the syllabus was a modern art course, which really opened my eyes as I’d been largely uninfluenced by other artists. Since then, I’ve been influenced by hundreds of different artists as I try and develop my own style. Before that, I was working in a vacuum with no foundation to start from.

How did you find your style in regards to your painting?

I returned to Bermuda after a three–year course at the Museum School in Boston, having focused mainly on welded steel sculpture. I didn’t have the resources to start a sculpture studio, so I began doing more painting. Bermuda was awash with pastel watercolours at the time so I decided to develop my own way of capturing Bermuda, and its unique iconography, using bolder colours, more detail and a surreal style.

Why did you get into metal work?
What medium inspirers you the most?

There’s something very satisfying about using fire and brute force to mold an unyielding medium such as steel into a finished piece. I soon began to be influenced by tribal art, trying to recreate characteristics of wooden masks and sculptures in steel. Tribal art via Picasso formed the basis of the Modern Art movement, but to me still seems a limitless, relatively untapped source of inspiration. Sculpture is far harder to sell than paintings, so I’ll always strike a balance between the two.

Can you describe your style?

Many young artists in art school tend to get ‘cloned’, where they end up painting in a style very similar to or indistinguishable from their teacher. Luckily I managed to avoid this, as the only painting classes I took were weekly at the Bermuda College. I still remember sitting outside painting a tree, and my teacher Diana Amos coming up to me and saying ‘You know, you don’t make grey by mixing black and white.’ After this revelation, I began copying other artists work and trying to match their colours discovering a myriad of greys, none involving black (the use of which every art teacher frowns upon). After this foundation, I jumped from style to style trying to find my own identity, drawing heavily from imagination. I wanted the proficiency to express what I wanted, while never aspiring to be a ‘realist’ artist. I saw some of this work, realized it was untouchable, and went in a different direction.

How did the dialogue begin in regards to your commission at the Commissioner’s House?

I got a call from Paul Shapiro and Rose Jones saying they had a possible project for me at the Commissioners’ House in Dockyard. I met them in the pillared hall and we discussed me painting a series of views of Dockyard from the 18th and 19th century. I did some sketches over the next few weeks and met up with them again. This time Dr. Harris was with them and he had an idea–instead of dockyard views, how about a mural depicting the entire history of Bermuda? The room, 1000sq feet of white wall became even more daunting at that point and I wasn’t sure if I could carry out such an ambitious project. Then, I made a scale model of the room and painted in miniature how I thought it might look and the historical highlights I wanted to capture. Dr. Harris liked the model, and set about securing the funding. Things went quiet for a few years–I completed a small painting for a children’s exhibit at the Commissioners’ House during that time. In 2005 I got the call I’d been waiting for. Some benefactors had come forward, and I had the green light. The next few months was a blur of research, reading and sketching. Plus I had to develop a style that would suit the room’s