NORTON— Lisa Hilliker is a shining example of that old saying, “Do what you love and the money will follow.”
Ms. Hilliker is an artist.It’s not easy to make a living as an artist, but she is doing just that.Not only is she successful enough to support herself, her husband has just quit his job and will be working with her full-time from now on.Her husband used to be the plant manager at the Ethan Allen furniture plant in Island Pond and has been working at the Beecher Falls plant ever since the Island Pond plant closed.A few weeks ago he left after 20 years with Ethan Allen in order to work at home with his wife.
“I’ve painted all my life, constantly,” she said.Her paintings are of animals and old-fashioned country themes.Some are on big old pieces of barn board, others are on toolboxes or cut-out heart or rabbit or other shapes for wall hangings.They are best described as American folk art, a genre she has always loved.
“It’s just such a warm art,” she said.
Ms. Hilliker has had her own craft business for the last several years, but in 2001 the business took off when she signed a contract with a graphic company called Wild Apple.
“They’ve been wonderful, absolutely wonderful,” she said.
Ms. Hilliker is a big fan of an artist named Warren Kimble, who paints country scenes with large-bodied cows with tiny legs.Mr. Kimble is a Vermonter and a member of Wild Apple, a company that Ms. Hilliker found on the Internet.Wild Apple calls him America’s best known living folk artist.
Ms. Hilliker told her good friend Genie Davis how much she liked this company’s art.Ms. Davis encouraged Ms. Hilliker to contact the company, but Ms. Hilliker was too shy.So Ms. Davis sent the company some of her friend’s work.
“She’s the one who swore up and down that this could happen,” Ms. Hilliker said.Next thing she knew, a company representative called Ms. Davis because they loved Ms. Hilliker’s work and wanted to talk to her about signing a contract and becoming a licensed artist with Wild Apple.
Ms. Hilliker decided to sign a three-year contract, and she has been very happy that she did.She sends the company original work, and the company makes posters, cards, and other products from the original.The company sends her back some of these posters so she can sell them at craft fairs, which she does by putting them into handmade frames.Wild Apple does not sell prints directly to the public but sells them wholesale to distributors.
Before this happened, it was hard for Ms. Hilliker to keep enough of her art in stock to be ready for craft shows.She has a wide range of pieces and still sells original work of all sizes as well as the high quality reproductions.Her work is seen all over the place, thanks to Wild Apple.
“A friend of mine in Pennsylvania went to a wholesale show, and three different vendors had it,” Ms. Hilliker said.Her work was featured in a magazine called Art World News.
At first she thought company representatives would only buy and reproduce a few of her pieces, but they have bought quite a number already.Also, someone from Wild Apple sometimes calls her with an idea of a print they would like.That’s how she painted a set posters on the theme of a cup of coffee and a cup of tea.
“It’s so funny because here’s this old hillbilly from Norton and she’s on the web,” said Ms. Hilliker, laughing.
Ms. Hilliker likes to keep her work simple, and she likes the country theme.She has always admired the work of Martha Stewart because of its simplicity and because she works with everyday materials.
She said she thinks Ms. Stewart might have got a raw deal in her court case.
“I think she was made an issue of,” Ms. Hilliker said.
“She just tried to make beautiful simple things,” she said.“She made the world a beautiful place.”
Ms. Hilliker’s own animals often serve as models for her pieces.Cats are a common theme.Her cats Jigs, Milo, and Kitty appear in her work at times.
She is self-taught.Most of her work is with acrylic paint these days.She loves to paint with oil paints, but they tend to take too long to dry.
“I did take one art class in high school and got a D in it,” she said with a wry smile.
Born and brought up in Lowell, Ms. Hilliker sold her first piece of art when she was 14.Her mother did watercolors, and Ms. Hilliker started out with pastels and watercolors.
In those days she did mainly fantasy, whimsical work.A woman who had moved to town and was a model from New York City bought a piece.
While her kids were growing up, Ms. Hilliker worked in coffee shops, at Bogner, whatever was necessary to make a steady income.The children, Nate and Emma, are grown now.He is a chef, and she works in a bank.
Ms. Hilliker and her husband lived in Island Pond for 22 years and moved to Norton because they liked the house and the location.It is in the village but set apart on a quiet little street.
She has always painted as a hobby, but she started doing craft fairs about five or six years ago.
“The craft shows have been great, and I haven’t even got out of Vermont,” she said.She usually goes to Antiques and Uniques on Craftsbury Common, the Barton craft fair at the fairgrounds, the Jay Peak craft fair, and one at the Sheraton in Essex.She has also done one at Stratton Mountain but wants to do one at the Shelburne Farms instead.
She also sells her work at Uniquity in St. Johnsbury and out of her home, if anyone wants to drive all the way to Norton.That doesn’t happen on a daily basis.
Ms. Hilliker’s husband, Brent, does the woodworking in his shop in the basement.He will possibly do some of the base painting for her pieces, too.He is also thinking of making some furniture, and it might be something she would decorate by painting on it.
So even if the weather is rather cool in Norton at the moment, there is plenty of warm art in town and much more to come.
