An exhibit of recent artwork by Wally Hill was on display last month at the Gathering Grounds in Patagonia.
Walter Ben Hill, age 19, is a native Arizonan and a student at Patagonia Union High School. His art career began when he was 12. He found a piece of baling wire in the yard and made Cinderella’s coach—which he promptly pulled apart and made Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Says his mother, “We began investing in wire.”
The exhibit includes but a few of the many, many wire sculptures he has made over the years from pipe cleaners, increasing in complexity and diversity as he experimented with his techniques. No one ever taught him how to do this. It is his art form.
His drawing ability has increased over the years and his parents credit his natural talent as well as the instruction he has received in art at Patagonia Union High School.
The 23 drawings in the show were done over a three-week period during the month of March 2014. They were drawn from pictures in magazines and calendars that he focused on and made his own.
Wally is a young man with autism and these drawings give us all an idea of how he sees the world. It is a hint of what can only be described as Wally’s Awareness.