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. As she worked traditional clerical jobs, she explored her creativity through needlework, photography and rug hooking. Interest in developing her own rug designs brought her to a drawing class and the beginning of a lifelong love of drawing and painting. To improve her skills, she actively pursued her study of art, including traditional art courses at the University of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Institute of Art. Hills has been painting seriously for more than twenty five years and is currently pursuing her art career from her studio in the Lane House Arts Center in downtown Hampton. She is an active member of Ogunquit Art Association, New Hampshire Art Association and Women’s Caucus for Art.
Her abstract paintings are rooted in her landscape, from her the orchards of Hollis to the marsh outside her back door to the tree-lined streets of Palo Alto. There is a connection between landscape, emotion, and memory. Her small-scale paintings reflect her passion for color and texture, her semi-abstract take on the world, and her use of landscape imagery. These contribute to her goal of producing paintings that remind the viewer of their own connections, their own memories, their own special places.