Elizabeth Hilton

Boise, ID

“I have learned that it is ok to be different, that the way I see the world has value.”

Growing up in west Boise when it was still primarily farmland, Elizabeth Hilton experienced a childhood shaped by imagination, and exploration. “During the summer we would head out after breakfast and not come home until dinner,” she recalls. Days were filled with fort-building, wandering along canals, and exploring abandoned houses- including one particularly decaying homesteader church. Those early experiences left an imprint that continues to inform her work today. “I think this is what draws me to vintage paper, and old material of all kinds as well as creating many layers of distressed surface texture.”

From her earliest years, Elizabeth’s world was filled with creativity, laying the groundwork for her lifelong love of art. As the fifth child of six, Elizabeth learned early to stay busy, often imitating older siblings and their talents. Her mother also nurtured an inventive household, introducing craft projects such as homemade magazines, apple cider dolls, yarn puffballs, plaster puppets, and roughly sewn animals. Surrounded by this atmosphere of resourcefulness and play, art and making became second nature. In high school, Elizabeth pursued as many art and photography classes as possible, laying the foundation for a lifelong practice.

“Creativity has always been a means of escape for me,” Elizabeth explains. Unlike sports or social gatherings, art offered a private sanctuary, a solo practice that provided relief from the pressures of fitting in. It also became a powerful way to ease anxiety. “It is very much an escape from anxiety when in the flow state, so common when I work through process.”

That sense of process remains central to her practice today. Rather than controlling each outcome, Elizabeth has learned to embrace spontaneity. “When I get consumed by the process of creating I feel like the art comes through me and not from me. The art informs me, not the other way around. It is such an interesting feeling to watch things unfold. This is my favorite place to be.”

While art was a constant thread, the path to self-discovery took many turns. Growing up in a religious family left little room for questioning, but a restless spirit pushed her to break out at a young age. “I had a yearning to experience life,” she reflected. Over the years, Elizabeth has worn many hats: river guide, dishwasher, bartender, lap swimmer, runner, yogi, cyclist, retail marketer, service manager, traveler, and teacher. Each role added to the richness of their lived experience, yet through it all, art remained the steady undercurrent.

With her diagnosis of bipolar disorder, Elizabeth began leaning into that uniqueness- once seen as a flaw. “I was always told there was something wrong with me, that my synapses didn’t fire correctly. The magic happened when I started to let the process of art inform me, not the other way around. It felt like a way to tap into what made me special, not wrong.” This philosophy translates directly into her technique: layering, scratching, gouging, and reapplying until the work mirrors life itself, full of trials, successes, and everything in between.

Materials play an equally important role in this evolution. While painting with a brush offers joy, Elizabeth finds unmatched magic in collage and vintage paper. Old advertisements, dated fonts, and forgotten snippets reappear in unexpected ways, surfacing from beneath layers to tell a new story. “These pieces may have old advertisements pictured or dated fonts, little snippets here and there that randomly peek out and create something new.” The result is work that feels both tactile and temporal, carrying the spirit of past lives while creating something wholly present.

Nature also deeply inspires their palette and patterns. Whether it’s the shifting textures of landscapes, the rhythm of a hike, or the stillness of the woods, the natural world is a grounding force in her artistic vision. Beyond the studio, Elizabeth is a 500-hour certified yoga teacher, guiding both public classes and aspiring teachers. She is also an avid outdoors-person who loves camping, hiking, and cycling- on road, mountain, and gravel. “It is a great way to explore while also achieving some pretty extreme exercise, which I love,” she notes. When not in motion, she can often be found with a good book in hand, completely content.

Today, Elizabeth rents a dedicated studio space where she creates, sells work, and takes on custom commissions. Her practice is a reflection of a life lived in layers: exploration, experimentation, and discovery. Each piece is a testament to resilience, creativity, and the beauty of imperfection.

“I love to add layers and layers, take some away, scratch and gouge and then add more,” she says. “The same way life shapes us, through trials and successes and all the stuff in between.”

In honoring her singular way of seeing the world, Elizabeth has transformed what once felt isolating into a vibrant, connective force. Her art, much like her journey, celebrates the imperfect, the weathered, and the layered- reminding us that beauty often emerges not in spite of hardship, but because of it.