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“Growing up, I was around artists who were talking about light and
color,” Jill said. She was 9 years old in 1963 when her family rented
a camp on Lazy Gut Island; two years later they bought a house on
Deer Isle, itself a land-bridged island with the kind of coves, spruce
and lupine-fringed inlets usually equated with Maine. It’s been a sum-
mer venue for artists since the 1930s. Prominent sculptor and print-
maker Leonard Baskin took a special interest in Jill’s drawings and,
over subsequent summers, continued to encourage her to translate the
air and space of her drawings into paintings.
Splitting her college years between the University of California,
Santa Cruz and Deer Isle, Jill became keenly aware of the differences
between light in California and in Maine. The former is so brilliant
and so steady that the sun seems to radiate like a prism. Around Deer
Isle, that light is hard edged and changes constantly as it bounces off
the granite rocks and water, responding to these elements, channeling
sensation. “It’s an interplay that you can’t capture with a camera,”
she said.
Jill seems to have captured and internalized both light and energy
from decades of sustained stints painting outdoors. With flowing, sil-
ver-streaked hair, sparkling eyes and smile, she remains as striking a
figure as she indubitably was on the day in 1991 that artist Jon Imber
spotted her painting in a field and declared to the friend who was
driving, “I'm going to meet that woman.”
Jill and Jon met at printmaker Carl Schrag’s annual end-of-season
party and were married the following year. In 1994, when their son,
Gabriel, was born, they were able to make a down payment on Ston-
ington’s Thurlow Hill, thanks to Jill’s payment for an L.L.Bean cover,
combined with John’s salary from teaching at Massachusetts Art in
Boston. Over the next 22 summers they continued painting on and
around Deer Isle, wintering in their home/studio near Davis Square in
Somerville, Mass.
“Lupine and Poppies” 40” x 30” oil on linen

Jon, recognized as one of the most important painters of his gen-
eration, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in
2012. The disease first paralyzed his painting hand and, over the
next two years, spread through his entire nervous system. Still his
vibrant work continued to evolve.
Initially known for large, masterful portraits, Jon had transitioned
to abstract landscapes but, as the disease progressed, he once more
focused on portraits – loose, expressive likenesses of visitors to his
Stonington and Somerville studios. With brushes attached to a head-
set, he continued to paint until a few days before his death, an amaz-
ing feat that is chronicled in “Jon Imber’s Left Hand,” the prize-
winning film by Richard Kane that continues to inspire ALS patients.
Jill and Jon shared not just a passionate commitment to painting
but also to a particular painting tradition, interpreted in their own
respective and very different styles. “We cross pollinated,” Jill said.
“I still feel his energy all around me.”
“The challenge,” she said, “is to convey the sensations I feel
while I spend hours out there, looking ... I’m becoming the painter
I’ve always wanted to be.”

The Jill Hoy Gallery is located at 80 Thurlow Hill, only steps
from the village dock, shops and restaurants. It’s open seasonally
Monday through Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information,
call (207) 367-2368 or visit www.jillhoy.com.
Jill Hoy paints en plein air. Photo by Kathy Page
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