Wiikwemkoong-Six Nations glass artist’s artwork featured at the Living Arts Centre
By Rick Garrick
MISSISSAUGA—Wiikwemkoong-Six Nations glass artist Ariel Hill’s artwork is featured in the Contrasts and Contradictions – the Polarizing Qualities of Glass juried exhibition at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga from Nov. 3-Jan. 6.
“It’s a juried exhibition of Canadian glass artists from across the country,” says Hill, who graduated with a BFA glass major from the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD) in Calgary in 2017. “Any Canadian glass artist could apply to be in the show. I had entered three pieces and all three pieces got in.”
Hill says there has been “good feedback” on the artwork of all the glass artists featured in the exhibition, which was organized by the Glass Art Association of Canada in partnership with the Living Arts Centre.
“I’ve gotten a few mentions through social media,” Hill says. “It’s reaching people that I don’t know, which is nice. I’m originally from Ontario, but I now live out west, so having that extra exposure and people reacting to the work in a positive way is great for me. So I’m happy to have that opportunity.”
Hill says her artwork in the juried exhibition is called the Weight Series.
“It features different blown glass objects that represent elements of nature,” Hill says. “The patterns that are in the glass are representative of different patterns found in nature. The first one is a grass kind of motif on a blown glass object. The second one is a stone one [in which] I use the same techniques I used in the Sediment|Sentiment series to represent stone. The third one is just a simple cell structure. So that series has the ability to expand into other patterns found in nature.”
Hill says the contrasting element of the Weight Series is created by pressing found metal objects into the glass objects to create an impression.
“The two pieces eventually sit together, where the glass object holds the metal object on top of it,” Hill says. “So it is weighted by the industrial material. The concept around that is the effects of industrialization on the natural world.”
Hill’s Sediment|Sentiment series of glass artwork, which she created in her final year at ACAD, was exhibited at the Marion Nicoll Gallery, LRT Walkway, an ACAD student run gallery, in March 2017.
“That was focusing on geological formations and the sedimentary layers that are created by thousands and thousands of years of development,” Hill says. “And how those lines represent moments in history and moments in time and how that can be reflected in our own personal experience and our life experience, how we are also created by layers of complex experiences.”
Hill moved out west in 2006 and now lives in Revelstoke, B.C., after living in Banff, Alta., for 11 years.
“I think it’s just the mountains and being kind of immersed in that outdoor recreation atmosphere,” Hill says. “I just fell in love with that aspect of it and Banff is a pretty small town so there is that sense of community and being close to your peers.”
Hill developed her interest in glass art after originally enrolling in a jewelry major at ACAD.
“Once I got to ACAD, I took a glass class and fell in love with it,” Hill says. “So I ended up changing my major.”
Hill’s Sediment|Sentiment series is posted online. Her work is also displayed at the ARTFIRST! GALLERY, Revelstoke’s Independent Art Gallery, which is available online.