Jenny Hill is a published poet and multidisciplinary artist who works in circus arts (multi-hoop performance, and clowning) and movement theatre. She’s been a rostered teaching artist with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for 22 years. Much of her personal work and growth as an artist has come from asking “what if?” questions. She follows that by chasing an idea, studying with those who are experts in their fields, finding inspiration in the enthusiasm of students, combining different forms, and allowing (even inviting!) herself to fail.
Her work as a teaching artist led her to the National Center for Creative Aging in 2013, where she completed the training program for work with older adults, and followed that with training with Elders Share the Arts. Jenny is a certified TimeSlips facilitator and recently completed Artist in Healthcare Settings training through Penn State Health.
She has worked with the Teacher-Artist Partnerships Institute in Pennsylvania to help educators, teaching artists, and arts administrators create and run successful arts residencies. Jenny’s collaborations with Liz Faist include a book of poetry and images titled ‘A Proper Dress,” as well as many workshops and residencies throughout the past two decades. Their work together with older adults began in 2015 where they worked extensively with people experiencing memory loss on projects ranging from ekphrastic poetry and collage, radio theatre, portraiture, landscape, poetry, and tableau vivant based on works of art. They’ve shared their experiences in working with older adults and some of their lesson ideas at the National Alzheimer’s Conference.
