Painter
Kenneth William Hill was born in Guernsey in 1928 and comes, on his mothers side, from one of the oldest families on the Island. He was the godson of the Channels Islands most famous philanthropist, the Reverend Mignot who left a home for Ken's family to live in when he died.
At the age of 11 ken was evacuated from the Island during the second world war along with his brother Bert. His younger brother Bill and his parents stayed on the island and they were separated for the duration of the war.
Ken was first taken to Glasgow and stayed there for a while. After enduring the Clydeside blitz he was moved again and stayed with the Maxwell family, proprietors of the Galloway news, in Castle Douglas. He became good at science and began working as a chemist for the firestone tyre factory at only 17.
He often painted as a child but only realised his talent for Art on returning to Guernsey after the war. There were no positions similar to the chemist role he left behind and so he got a job dressing windows and creating displays for a tobacco company. Some of his drawings attracted attention which encouraged him to go to the States School of Art in Guernsey to learn more. His teachers were very impressed with his ability and sent a few pieces of his work to the Royal Academy. He was accepted in as a student in 1950 and he trained there for 5 years, gaining His RA award in 1955. He had the honour of being the first artist from Guernsey to train at the RA School of Art and one of only 20 from around the world to get in that year.
He became a teacher and painted whenever he could at weekends and during the holidays. He mainly painted around East Anglia but also did paintings in France, Cornwall and in Guernsey when he could.
At the age of 52 he came back to Guernsey where he built his own house and endeavoured to paint more full time. He ended up splitting his time between painting and translating Guernsey French. He was a member of the Sarnia Arts and Crafts Club and became president on at least two occasions. He helped organise several exhibitions of famous artwork, taught adults how to paint and translated all the Marjorie Ozanne stories for La Société Guernesiaise.
He was inspired by the impressionists and post impressionists and endeavoured to capture the life, colour and light in landscapes. Ken turned his hand to many genres of art but he is particularly known for his cliff paintings. In many paintings he has hidden stories by or about famous people and aspects of Guernsey life. One of his favourite authors was Victor Hugo but he also featured stories by Lewis Carroll, C. S. Lewis, Elizabeth Goudge and others. Careful examination of some paintings will reveal whole 'collages' of images.
Ken was very shy about his work and did not publicly show any. He may have gone unnoticed by many, but there are also a lot of people who have galleries of his work or who have come to appreciate his immense talent in both art and translation. Since his death last year his work is being made more available and hopefully he will be recognised as one of Guernsey's most talented sons.
If you would like to see more work by Ken Hill, please visit at this web address: www.kenhillart.co.uk
