Raffle and auction of Steve Hill paintings to benefit Lopez Museum

When Board Member Ralph Bladt approached noted plein air painter, Steve Hill about creating a painting for the Lopez Museum’s 40th anniversary commemorative poster, it didn’t take long for Steve to respond with a resounding “Yes!” His enthusiasm was fired by the idea of using the historic gill net boat, Sally J as a subject. Sally J was retired in 1996, and is now on display in front of the Museum.

July 26, 2013 7:40 pm
'Sally J Heading Out'
'Sally J Heading Out'

by Ande Finley

Special to the Weekly

When Board Member Ralph Bladt approached noted plein air painter, Steve Hill about creating a painting for the Lopez Museum’s 40th anniversary commemorative poster, it didn’t take long for Steve to respond with a resounding “Yes!” His enthusiasm was fired by the idea of using the historic gill net boat, Sally J as a subject. Sally J was retired in 1996, and is now on display in front of the Museum.

“The Sally J looks so lonely, stripped down, boards missing. I wanted to put her back in the water off Iceberg Point where Bastian “Bus” Jevick fished her for over fifty years,” Steve explained. “I was only going to do one painting, but I got so involved, fell in love with that boat, I did a second one as well.”

Hill’s first painting, a large pastel entitled Sally J, Underway, is the image he created for the Museum’s anniversary poster and showcases his unique talent at capturing the ethereal quality of light on water. Sally J, Heading Out also places the boat somewhere off Iceberg Point, but this time shrouded in fog. He had only one black and white photo to use as reference, so the addition of color was a product of his own prodigious imagination.

Steve is also celebrating his 40th anniversary as a Lopezian. He arrived here in 1973, the same year construction began on the Museum. With two artist friends from graduate school, he founded Grayling Gallery as a private art school where they could all make and teach art.

Today, he works at Windswept Fine Art Gallery where he will host a special benefit auction and raffle for these extraordinary paintings on August 30th as a kickoff event for the annual Labor Day Weekend Artists’ Studio Tour. Valued at $5,000 each, these pieces are out of reach for most, so the Museum decided to raffle one of the paintings and auction the other. When you buy your ticket, you get to choose your favorite of the two paintings. The winner need not be present.

You can see the originals and buy raffle tickets, the anniversary poster, giclee prints, and Sally J note cards at the Lopez Museum, Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 4 through August. Call the museum, 468-2049, if you would like more information.