When Scott Hile recounts his childhood, he remembers his family telling him that he’d grow up to be an artist. Without any formal training, he has proved them right.Born in Sidney, Nebraska, in 1956, this self-taught creator of three dimensional sculpture and, more recently, original hand painted pieces on paper and large canvas, began with an innate curiosity. He recognized the type of art that moved him, then examined it and reproduced it in his own way. "That’s probably why I now enjoy creating art an having people try to figure it out."

He uses an arresting geometric approach, "probably because it was the first thing I tried and it worked for me. I guess that it comes from my personality. Everyone tells me that I am very neat and organized." The consequences of this precision can be clearly seen in his paper sculpture. While his pieces seldom are smaller than four foot square, a closer look reveals an obsession of equal magnitude with intricacies of small detail.

People tell Hile that his work reminds them of origami, so every Christmas he can count on someone giving him a book on the process of Japanese paper folding. "But," he notes, "I’ve yet to use anything from it." Instead, he starts with a square of paper and a pair of scissors, then begins cutting, folding and scoring on a grand scale, in a style all his own. The result may be a something relatively simple or a piece that has been painstakingly formed over time. "Each work creates a different texture and mood," he says. His pyramid pieces are especially popular, using either bright jewel tones with metallic accents or metallics with jewel tone accents for maximum effect.

While many artists are adept at three dimensional works, Hile’s creations are highly precise and geometric. "I come up with a basic shape, then repeat it hundreds of times to create larger shapes. Some of my pieces look almost as if they were floating." His disregard for the laws of gravity, and his ability to pique viewers’ interest, has led to commissioned work of large suspended mobiles.

He gathers ideas from nature, architecture, geometry and dreams. "From everything around me," he enthuses. "Buildings, things in nature, leaves on trees." And, his materials have included various types of paper, plastics, metal, paint, pencils, foam core and fabric.

Hile concentrated solely on 3 dimensional sculptures until he worked for several weeks at the Rosenbaum Fine Arts atelier in Florida in 1992. "That’s when my work took a different direction; it was like setting myself free, instead of being confined to geometric shapes and precision. My paintings are loose and fluid, with more free forms and blendings of colors." Hile also likes to work with textures, and to create illusions on paper and canvas, just as he does in his 3 dimensional works. Scott Hile resides in Phoenix, Arizona.