Hope

The design for this broadside was created in February 2020 with Minneapolis artist Nell Hillsley working from the poem “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman who recited it at Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, 2021. Nell’s work is a combination of watercolor and collage.

Nell’s Statement: I have been an artist since I was six years old. Color seduces me. The season of spring with green appearing out of the dull gray world gives us the hope that other issues in our lives will turn to happiness. I hope you will find happiness when you discover the integration of my painting and Amanda’s poem. 

Teresa’s statement: This poem is a powerful reminder of how poetry, as Gorman said in an interview, “can speak both to the world’s problems and its solutions, as well as the microcosms of conflict inside” ourselves. For this project we selected the final section of Amanda’s poem.

Leslie’s statement: Immediately after I heard Amanda Gorman recite her poem at the inauguration, I called Teresa to see if she was listening. We were both stunned. My dear friend, artist and mentor (spiritual and artistic), Nell Hillsley came to mind as someone who might be able to illustrate Amanda’s words to bring them to our community for Art in Common Places. When I asked Nell, she was happy to do that. After creating several rough ideas in collage that she shared with us from her retirement home via Zoom, she set out to draw this watercolor image that creates an arch over the poem’s words – a door that draws the reader deeper into the feeling of the poem. Nell is in her 90s now, very much concerned with our country and the well-being of all people. It is my pleasure to bring her work to our community in Sarasota.