Hill uses whimsical disregard for scale in fresh, vigorous works

Recent Works by Bethanne Hill. Monty Stabler Galleries, through Oct. 5,2002.

    There is a degree of edginess in the folksy and charming paintings by Bethanne Hill. Her work evokes a feeling of restive nature unleashed on a somnolent countryside.

    Hill always has been intrigued by the emotional power of repetitive patterns, reflecting her early interest in aboriginal art. Rural vistas become intricate designs flooded with defining sunlight and the threatening dark clouds of tornadoes. She combines the bucolic with the sinister in intricate configurations of cognitive elements. Farm animals and wild creatures laze in the hot sun until they are caught up in the vortex of a funnel cloud and tossed skyward in a helter-skelter configuration one might simply call selective relocation.

   Using the symbolic visual language that forms the basis of all folk art, Hill disregards such sophistications as scale and perspective. Critters have a cartoon-like sameness that renders them lovably cute. Fluttering birds fly in frazzled circles, subject to the winds of chance.

   Buildings are boldly articulated with the same whimsical disregard for scale and function. Crops and trees sway and dance to the tumultuous winds.

  Nature is Hill's pattern book. She transforms sparsely set countryside elements into concentrated configurations that heighten the experiencing of nature.

   This is Hill's first one person show in this area, and I recommend you see this fresh and vigorous crop of paintings.

                                             James Nelson

                                   Birmingham News Sunday, September 15, 2002