Through the magic of social media I recently rediscovered an Alpha Xi Delta sorority sister from my days at RIT. In a sorority that was mostly business and retailing majors, Joyce Hill and I were two of the few sisters who were Art & Design majors. We also happened to be in the same class. I hadn’t seen Joyce’s artwork since those days in the late 1960s. The collage work she has been producing in recent years is inspiring and begs a closer look.

She is fascinated by communication her artist’s statement says. Her recent works are based on graffiti she saw traveling down narrow alleys in Italy. Her work “Guitarman”
uses layers of photos and what appears to be paper textured like the ancient walls she walked by.

The crumbling ruins of the L.A. Zoo provided more inspiration for her graffiti-based layered works. “Local graffiti artists had been in these areas before me. The walls were covered with colorful markings, words and images. Some of these I could not understand but was still amazed at their beauty. Communication is not just the expression of words but in its simplest form is the transfer of thoughts through images,” Joyce said.

I admire artist’s like Joyce who work with layers of images and associated memories. Her work, “Hipsters’ Night Out” is an example of layered artwork I feel can evoke one’s own memories. In this case, of fun-filled evenings with friends.

You too maybe can relive old memories and enjoy Joyce M. Hill’s wonderful layered collages at: http://joycehillstudio.com/.

All images are copyrighted by Joyce M. Hill.