Hill salutes the American Flag in art show
BY MARGARET CARROLL-BERGMAN INDEPENDENT EDITOR
Island artist G. S. "Greg" Hill is drawn to the American flag. Whenever he is outside painting or sketching, if an American flag is flying, it captures his attention and interest.

Photos courtesy of G.S. Hill One of 15 paintings Hill has in his show honoring the American flag.

"You expect to see flags on Memorial Day and July 4th, yet, on Nantucket, you see them flying all summer long," said Hill. "On Memorial Day on Old North Wharf, there were 15 flags flying. Ed Sanford covered the roof of his cottage with a flag."

Hill painted a 24-inch by 40-inch oil of the North Wharf Memorial Day scene complete with 15 flags for his show "Our American Flag," which will open tomorrow with a reception from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the G.S. Hill Gallery on Straight Wharf. There are 15 other pieces Hill has painted for the show.

It seems fitting that Hill, with his art gallery on Straight Wharf, once the nexus of the whaling industry on the island, has a devotion to the American flag.

The connection between Nantucket and the American flag is strong. Not long after the American Revolution ended in 1776 and America was still defining herself as a country, it was a Nantucket whaleship that was the first to fly the American flag in a foreign port.

PHOTO COURTESY OF G.S. HILL Fifi Greenberg's boots

In 1783, the Nantucket whaleship Bedford sailed up the Thames in England loaded with 400 casks of whale oil and proudly flew the American flag.

For years, Hill and his wife Judi decorated their gallery with bunting and American flags on national holidays and kept the tradition alive.

"People appreciate it," he said. "Ever 4th of July and Memorial Day, we'd go crazy."

It is the first time Hill, who is known for his paintings, which mostly depict a foggy and misty Nantucket, has ever built a show around the American flag.

"We've always found people proudly display the flag, but in different ways," said Judi Hill.

Hill said the most interesting flag display he has seen is on a pair of leather boots, where pieces of colored leather were stitched together to make the design of the American flag.

"One of the paintings depicts the boots, which are owned by (islander) Fifi Greenberg," said Hill. "Another depicts two local Beetle catboats, which have American flag sails, sailing in Nantucket Harbor."

At the town dock off Washington Street, there are three American flags flying and Hill was so taken by this vista, that he painted it from the harbor.

"It's mind boggling. Every time you see a flag flying, it looks pretty," said Hill.

Hill first exhibited on Nantucket in 1977 at the "Harbour Gallery" on Old South Wharf. Two years later, Hill and Judi became owners and renamed it G.S. Hill Gallery. In 1981, he opened a gallery on Straight Wharf.

"There are fewer one-man galleries and more corporate type of galleries on the island," said Hill. "That's one of the biggest changes, but not a bad one."

"Shows like 'Our American Flag' help keep my paintings fresh, " said Hill. "I've always been low key in my paintings, many have a misty fog, which is like Nantucket. When it flows and comes together it is easy to do. I am still learning." I