Jane Hill was born in Washington, DC, and grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. She received a Bachelor of Science in painting from Towson University and an MFA from Pratt Institute of Art. In 1991 she moved to New Orleans to teach in area public school Talented Art Programs, as well as at numerous other venues in the city. After losing her home in Hurricane Katrina, Hill temporarily relocated to Baltimore, and held a solo show about Katrina at Baltimore’s Creative Alliance at the Patterson. She worked extensively as a teacher in a range of art schools and community programs in Maryland. Hill is a recipient of an Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Grant and a Joan Mitchell Gulf Coast Artist Grant. In the summer of 2007 Hill returned to New Orleans as a Restoration Resident at A Studio in the Woods.

“Having uninterrupted time to work on my art in supported solitude was tremendously empowering. I have never felt so nurtured while making art, spared the distraction of a job, or even household chores. This was hugely restorative after the loss of house, job and community in Katrina, and has cemented for me the nurture that comes through commitment to my own work. Additionally, I was able to reconnect with intuitive and emotional parts of myself which after the stress of relocation had been severely repressed in the interests of survival.” – Jane Hill