Thriving creatively

Morgan Hill creates paper-mache vases in Woodstock, Vermont. (Courtesy Photo)

Visions of vases had crossed Morgan Hill's mind before, but had never materialized — until now.

Hill, a New York-based designer, is back in her hometown of Woodstock, Vermont, working on a creative venture that took off during the current shutdown: large, paper-mache vases, with bright colors and an eye-catching design.

Until now, her creative life has been in New York City, where she has lived for the past five years. But in mid-March she opted to leave NYC, which was quickly becoming the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. Hill remembers wearing a bandana for a face-covering as an Uber driver, donning a mask, took her to Penn Station. There had been no government orders there at the time, but the city's mood was changing.

“It felt like I was escaping,” she said.

Hill, who formerly worked for Diane von Furstenberg, was most recently working for Circus by Sam Edelman — a younger, edgier spin-off of the well-known shoe brand. Soon after she got back to Vermont and started her two-week quarantine, she was furloughed. Hill had planned to have a couple hobbies on the side.

“I decided to make the hobbies a full-time gig,” she said.

Her parents' house became her new studio — sparking creative thought with paint and supplies collected from years of artistic experiments. That led to a new claim to fame: large, 24-inch paper-mache vases. Hill began making them in mid-March, posted them to Instagram, and sales soon followed. She is now taking commissions.

“In the first wave I sent out, a lot of people said, ‘I know you sold this vase to this person I know. How do I get one?”

For a brief time, Hill pivoted back to making jewelry, a longtime passion of hers. But the Instagram feedback was clear: The people wanted more vases.

Now without the daily grind of city life, Hill finds herself with more time to test the bounds of the artist's palette. The last time she had a chance to explore a new artistic medium, she was in college.

“I’d been building up all these ideas I’d never been able to execute,” Hill said.

Aside from vases, she has also been creating purses with the same technique, but is working out some technicalities on those. She's not stopping there.

“I’ve been wanting to do a lot more home objects, lamps and bowls, maybe side tables,” she said. “Actual furniture would be great. We’ll see how long this quarantine lasts.”

Find out more about Hill's work at her website, www.morganfhill.com, or look for @morganfhill on Instagram.

— Gareth Henderson