ARTIST BIO
Jill Hellman
Jill Hellman was born in New York City and raised in a nearby suburb. As the daughter of a dancer and a science writer, she grew up around an eclectic mix of family friends who influenced her both artistically and academically. She was always creative and made art, but she always followed other career paths. Art was a private affair.
She earned a BA and MA in anthropology, did curatorial and exhibition work in two natural history museums, managed an art gallery in LA, then became a development director in NYC, raising money for two hospitals, a university and a dance company.
A lifelong fascination with the unconscious led her to complete a degree in psychology and follow a path of self discovery that brought her back to her passion of making art. While running a private psychotherapy practice she began taking classes at night in drawing, painting and collage.
A diagnosis of an aggressive breast cancer in 2016, followed by a year of treatment, became her wake up call. When she was well enough after treatment, a shift in priorities and now-or-never lessons that cancer had to teach led her to step up her art study, follow her muse and find her artistic voice.
Jill’s mixed-media paintings have been shown and collected nationally and internationally since 2015.
