Nicholas Hill (American, b. 1952) is an artist, curator, and educator whose work bridges printmaking, painting, and cross-cultural exchange. A 2017 Guggenheim Fellow, Hill’s studio practice centers on the exploration of history, memory, and cultural identity through printmaking processes such as etching, aquatint, and carborundum intaglio. His imagery often layers abstracted landscapes, geometric motifs, and symbolic references, creating works that evoke both physical terrain and remembered or imagined spaces.
Residencies and collaborative experiences have been central to his career. Hill has held prestigious fellowships in the United States at the MacDowell Colony, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Ragdale Foundation, and the Art Students League residency at Vytlacil. Internationally, he has been awarded residencies in Germany at the Grafikwerkstatt Dresden and the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden, as well as at Taller 99 Printmaking Studio in Santiago, Chile, and the Casaplan Cultural Center in Valparaíso, Chile. These residencies have allowed him to experiment with new techniques and to forge lasting connections with artists worldwide.
Hill’s curatorial work reflects the same internationalism. He co-curated a landmark exhibition of contemporary Indian and American printmaking at the Lalit Kala Akademi Galleries in New Delhi, fostering dialogue between global print traditions. He has also curated and facilitated exhibitions in the United States featuring artists from India, Germany, and Chile, strengthening intercultural ties through shared visual language.
His commitment to community engagement has led him to develop arts projects with under-served communities in Ohio and New York, using printmaking as a tool for access and storytelling. As an educator, he has presented lectures and workshops at institutions such as Dartmouth College, the University of Redlands (California), and Pratt Munson-Williams-Proctor College of Art and Design.
Hill earned his BFA from Michigan State University and both his MA and MFA from the University of Iowa. He has taught at the State University of New York–Plattsburgh, Bethany College, and Union College, and currently serves as Professor of Art at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio.
His work is included in the permanent collections of major institutions such as the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Library of Congress, affirming his place within the landscape of contemporary American printmaking.
