Terry Hilt
featured with Don Best
September 19-October 16, 2022
A poem title by Dylan Thomas“ The Force that Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower” specifically inspired two paintings: “Poets Fuse”(I and II ), as well others in the exhibition.
Dylan did not shy away from vividly writing about the overwhelming mysterious force that drives the life of the flower and all else, coursing in our veins throughout the delicately balanced cycle of life, death and rebirth.
In a similar sensibility these paintings express reflections of the immense life forces that permeate nature. I use strong, high-toned hues of watercolors, and energetically applied large-brushed movements on the paper as a response to the energy and power of nature.
Universal focus on these magnificent forces are heightened in this era, as we are now gravely concerned about the necessity to better ecologically engage with nature—to live in concert with the earth. Now, more than ever, we must learn to live respectfully in balance with the changing relationship between the elements of fire, water, wind and earth.
These paintings were created in concert with each other, emphasizing the dark, rich, energetic beauty of the life forces of earth, sea, and sky; but moreover, to acknowledge the overwhelming forces of nature which must be respected. For the earth is, at its core, our precious, balanced, life-giving system and will wisely embrace the wish that such systems of nature be better understood and not carelessly exploited: a wish that our divine gifts of nature not further lose their harmony with the needs of all of life.
~Terry Havey Hilt
Dylan did not shy away from vividly writing about the overwhelming mysterious force that drives the life of the flower and all else, coursing in our veins throughout the delicately balanced cycle of life, death and rebirth.
In a similar sensibility these paintings express reflections of the immense life forces that permeate nature. I use strong, high-toned hues of watercolors, and energetically applied large-brushed movements on the paper as a response to the energy and power of nature.
Universal focus on these magnificent forces are heightened in this era, as we are now gravely concerned about the necessity to better ecologically engage with nature—to live in concert with the earth. Now, more than ever, we must learn to live respectfully in balance with the changing relationship between the elements of fire, water, wind and earth.
These paintings were created in concert with each other, emphasizing the dark, rich, energetic beauty of the life forces of earth, sea, and sky; but moreover, to acknowledge the overwhelming forces of nature which must be respected. For the earth is, at its core, our precious, balanced, life-giving system and will wisely embrace the wish that such systems of nature be better understood and not carelessly exploited: a wish that our divine gifts of nature not further lose their harmony with the needs of all of life.
~Terry Havey Hilt

Terry and her husband Dr. Dana Hilt were guest presenters at the MDI Bio Lab July 27.
“Scientists’ specific language terms and mathematical formulas are symbolic codes for known concepts about the dynamic forces present in the universe. Can a different code and “truth” describing nature’s moving forces within the landscape be validly conveyed by the artists’ symbolic language of reality by use of pigment, line and stroke?”
Terry Hilt
Terry Hilt
There have been many who have influenced my direction in painting. I was first introduced to watercolor by down east painter, Ed Foster. However, I have been mostly influenced by the Maine coastal modernists such as Marin, Betts, as well as Tam who went beyond Cezanne’s accomplishment of fractured space adding exciting motion to their work. I also have studied works by Kienbusch and Hartgen, painters who also captured strong movement and energy. Monhegan artists James Fitzgerald, and Leo Brooks have influenced my use of strong lines and richly applied watercolor as medium.