Blair Saxon-Hill

Born 1979, Eugene, Oregon

Blair Saxon-Hill is a multidisciplinary artist who works primarily in collage and sculpture. Her paper and fabric assemblages depict jaunty characters that boldly and directly engage the viewer.

Working mostly with found objects and swathes of miscellaneous textiles, Saxon-Hill has described herself as a fabric hound and chronic hunter for discarded treasures, often beginning her day standing in line waiting for her neighborhood thrift shop to open. Elaborating, she has explained: “I like being overwhelmed by choices at the bins…surrounded by things taken out of context and jumbled upon themselves. The experience is very much like being inside a collage.”

The work on view, Senses of Our Time no.3, was made during Saxon Hill’s seven - month residency at Pace Prints in New York. This stimulating time away from her home and studio in Portland, Oregon, inspired her to portray characters she encountered in her new surroundings. The resources and support she was afforded enabled her to explore new processes and techniques for making her work. Expanding on her natural attraction to textiles and patterns, and her practice as a collagist, she was able to print a range of fabric textures that could be incorporated into her series of unique monoprints.

Blair Saxon-Hill has exhibited work across the United States, including exhibitions at The Shrine, Los Angeles, JOAN, Los Angeles and The Oregon Center for Contemporary Art in Portland. In 2021 her work was included in The New Museum’s International Triennial of Contemporary Art. She has been awarded fellowships by the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the Ford Family Foundation, the Oregon Arts Commission, and the Hallie Ford Foundation.