Artist Hilton Murray

There comes a time in a man’s life when a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do! For Hilton P. Murray, fifty-something, and a successful marketing and advertising consultant based in Cleveland Heights, that time came in May, 2006. He’d established himself pretty well in his chosen industry, and had won numerous awards during his career, but he’d always loved the visual arts, too. Even growing up in Elyria, he’d been lured into drawing classes. At one point he gave serious thought to his future: Do I want to ‘do’ art as art, or do I want to do advertising and marketing that use art to make a point?

At that time, he decided on the latter course. “I decided not to go down that road—to ‘do’ art, although I did think seriously about maybe teaching sculpture. It seemed more reasonable to go the other way, and think about the ‘doing’ part whenever I’d retire.” He glances around his colorful art-filled studio/workshop. Significantly, his gaze pauses briefly (and lights up in the process) at the display case that houses some of the awards won by his company. “It’s been good. I enjoy what I do, and I’m doing well while enjoying it. I enjoy the problem-solving, the creative process of branding and helping my clients.”

After graduation from high school in Elyria, he went on to Kent State University where he earned a BFA in advertising art and an MFA in graphic design for television. His ties to KSU remain strong: he’s been a member of the KSU Alumni Board and a former Board President.

But still, even during those busy building years, something kept tugging at him, wherever he went, whatever he did. Ten years ago, he’d even gone so far as to buy a huge roll of corrugated cardboard stock, having decided it was an interesting medium with which he could work very easily. Six years later, he threw it out, having not yet done anything at all with it or to it. But still, the notion was never all that far removed from his thoughts.

So, fast-forward to May, 2006, and one day Hilton decided to once again investigate the field of paper art. Unless one is really observant, you might not realize the varieties of corrugated paper available to an artist. Some of it has very fine ribs, maybe only a quarter the size of the standard corrugated cardboard box we’d use to ship something. It also comes in colors, usually white or various shades of the ubiquitous tan. But in addition to the ribbed side, the flat side is also useful. Art is light, after all, so reflection of bright and/or matte surfaces each provide something else different to the artist’s eye. Hilton has that, in spades.

Within a week or so, he’d created his first landscape. And he was hooked. Considering that, by his own admission, it takes ‘maybe 40 hours’ to do one creation, and he’s now accumulated more than sixty of them, it’s easy to see he’s really into this activity. The variety is astonishing. He says that this art is ‘relaxing art’, as opposed to ‘business art’, but he admits that it’s also ‘blurring the lines a bit’. The format and structure is different enough to make his point.

Of course, as is the way with most artists, doing just one thing wasn’t enough. So, he branched out into sculptures of a sort. He’s been heavily influenced by African masks, so his first such effort is a cross between such a mask and a slightly more rigid R2D2 or Darth Vader. Actually, Hilton calls it/him 'Warrior'. It really has to be seen to be truly appreciated. But it’s impressive, none the less.

Now, he’s on a new kick, using strips of wood as the medium. Layering them in spirals, they greatly resemble some of the work of the renowned graphic artist Maurits Escher, he of the optical illusion staircases, for instance.

The paper scuptures (cardboard, really) are done in many layers. Painstakingly, the artist—using various sizes as well as the grain of the ribs in addition to the reverse flat side—cuts, pastes and pieces together miniscule and larger bits to produce a visual image. Primarily, Hilton likes to do landscapes in the more-or-less flat works. He’s greatly influenced by our lake, and the way the sky, water and land all come together. Once the pieces are cut and fitted together, he then glues them in place. Of course, sometimes the glue fights him, and he must take it all apart and start over. On occasion, it’s easier just to move on to another idea.

“Sometimes a ‘vision’ is in place,” he says, “and sometimes I have to do research to be sure the vision is doable. Do I use the finer texture as background or foreground? Or sideways? Or up-and-down? Should it incorporate the reflection from the smooth side? And then, some times, I use smooth on both sides, but the ribs are still visible inside, and that presents yet another appearance to the whole.”

After he’d finished a few pieces last year, he decided to seek out opinions of others. The response was unanimously affirming, but it was hard for him to accept or believe the praise his art garnered for him. ‘People say things to be nice sometimes. It’s just really hard to believe these things, even if you hear them a thousand times!” Ahh, the plaint of every artist since the beginning of time. You want to believe, but can it really be possible?

It didn’t take long for him to believe that maybe it was possible. He audited art classes at Lakeland Community College, the Cleveland Institute of Art and then Cleveland State University, with positive results. This spring, less than a year after he’d begun to produce this type of art, (‘although it’s taken my whole lifetime to get this far’) Robert Thurmer, Director of the CSU Art Gallery, gave Hilton the opportunity for a one-man show. The theme of the collection was “Cities: The Footprints of Man,” and featured various cityscapes.

“The piece always tells you when it’s done,” he says with a smile. “Or where it’s at in the process.” He pauses briefly to gather his words. “I want to take the viewer on a trip. What are they going to see? I want them to see what I see.”

Until October 29, you can see Hilton’s artwork at the Valley Art Center in Chagrin Falls, a result of having encountered Mary Urbas, one of the teachers at Lakeland. She’d also given him the opportunity to display there, before asking him to participate in the Valley showing.

Valley Art Center is located at 155 Bell St. Chagrin Falls OH 44022. For information, call (440) 247-7507, or visit the web-site: http://www.valleyartcenter.org

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATadelphia.net
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