Artist Statement
Jill's process is deeply immersive, experimental and sensory. She uses earth-sourced color and traditional pigment-making techniques that reflect her intimate connection to the 225-year-old farm she stewards. Exclusively employing materials from the farm's ecosystem, Jill creates tactile abstract paintings with handmade inks and paints derived from the botanicals and earth she forages or cultivates.
Guided by the natural hues of her surroundings, Jill's compositions explore geological and plant architectures, emphasizing raw materiality and color. Working on cotton papers, canvas or plaster on wood, she uses bold, often monochromatic palettes that directly link color to its natural origin.
As an artist, mother and farmer, Jill's approach reflects her deep bond with the land through nurturing, growing and sharing with her community. Her work aims to reconnect viewers with their environment. Extracting color from the earth without using petroleum products is a gesture of reciprocity, nourishing the land that sustains us. By consciously using all-natural materials made by her hands, she maintains the profound link between her art and place.
Jill’s paintings encourage viewers to contemplate their relationship with nature, serving as a catalyst for regenerative thinking in an increasingly disconnected world.
About the Artist
Jill Duffy is a multifaceted artist specializing in abstract painting and handmade natural pigments. Her artistic journey began in early childhood and continued with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, followed by over a decade in design and advertising, focusing on luxury and Fortune 500 brands. Relocating to New York's Hudson Valley marked a pivotal shift, where she found inspiration in nature and began to prioritize motherhood, her art and her connection with the natural world.
Today, living on a 210 acre working farm, Jill's art practice has evolved alongside her stewardship of the land. Immersed in her surroundings, she draws inspiration from daily walks and tending to the farm, intimately observing and extracting colors from the landscape and its buildings. Her barn studio serves as the creative hub where she produces her art and pigments and hosts workshops. Jill lives on the farm with her husband, two sons, two dogs, 20 goats, three pigs and 200 hens, two hours north of Manhattan, situated between the Hudson River and the Berkshire Mountains.
Beyond her art and farming, Jill actively contributes to her community. She volunteers and participates in committees supporting ecological and educational initiatives throughout the Hudson Valley and Berkshires, embodying her commitment to both artistry and community engagement.
