PEOPLE OF INTEREST
ANTHONY INSWASTY PHOTOS
Heidi Hill, who displays her art at the Vero Beach farmer’s market Saturday mornings, spends hours in her outdoor studio creating sculptures and ceramics.
In a world of art bound by mud and heat and wax,
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BY MARY ANN KOENIG
Heidi Hill found her calling. The Vero Beach ceramicist
had always been aware of her artistic side, but not
until she began taking pottery classes at the Vero Beach
Museum of Art, simply as an escape valve, did her talent
begin to flourish.
Working from an outdoor studio on the private 5-acre
estate she and husband Geoff built, Hill can easily lose
herself in her craft for hours. “I love being covered in
mud,” she says.
Her ceramic pieces and pottery are easily recognizable
by a few tangible themes. Whimsy and humor go
hand-in-hand with practicality and design. Dragon fruit
bowls offer soft pink exteriors with replicate green leaves
surrounding a white core dotted with individually painted
black seeds. And a seafood platter is graced with a purple
octopus wrapping spindly tentacles around the edges.
Hill and her creations can be found most Saturday
mornings at the Vero Beach Farmer’s Market on Ocean
Drive, a perfect showcase for an artist who relishes connecting
with her clients.
“I like my art to be approachable,” she says. “My creations
are kind of like my offspring. I want them to be in
a friendly environment, adopted by good families and in
happy homes.”
A happy home has played a significant role in Hill’s art
journey. The escape valve she utilized when first adopting
ceramics as a medium was a regular, three-hour Wednesday
evening class that turned into a respite from raising
two rambunctious toddlers.
“One of the things about being a mom is that your needs
always come last,” Hill says. “Don’t get me wrong, I loved
raising kids. I’ve got the most awesome sons, but it’s really
easy to lose yourself when you’re in the trenches of
motherhood.”
Hill grew up in Europe, living in Dipperz, Germany,
and in Brussels, which makes her fluent in German,
French and English, cultural distillations that have
spurred her creative energies.
Now, living in an oceanfront community, turtles, fish,
seashells and starfish are prominent models for her art.
Heavily consulted reference materials include a fishing
guide. Whether painting koi fish on a glazed plate,
sculpting baby turtles and their tracks escaping across an
undulating ceramic dish, or designing a mosaic mermaid
at the bottom of a client’s pool, Hill takes advantage of her
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The CERAMICIST