BY MATT KITE for WEEKLY VOLCANO 11/21/25 |
The Hilltop Artists program constitutes a perfect circle. Budding artists begin as students, and if they stick with the program long enough, they become teachers. As teachers, they absorb fresh ideas from their students, and the continuous loop churns out a never-ending supply of inspiration and innovation.
That circle of creativity is on display right now at the Hilltop Artists: All Grown Up exhibition at Tacoma Community College’s Building 4 Art Gallery. A collaboration between Hilltop Artists’ teachers and students, current and former, the free exhibit features a diverse and impressive collection of artwork and will be open to the public until December 19. Display hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. A free reception is scheduled for Monday, November 24, from 4 to 6 p.m.
“It is pretty incredible,” Dr. Kimberly Keith says of the program’s ongoing mission. “Our youngest students are twelve years old. We have a couple of staff members who’ve been with us as staff for twenty years, and they were students in the program before that. Seeing them now as artists and teachers is really exciting.”
As the exhibition’s curator, Dr. Keith, the executive director at Hilltop Artists and vice president of the TCC College Foundation Board of Directors, has a unique perspective on the relationship between the nonprofit program and the college.
“There’s very much a pipeline between the two organizations,” she says. “We’re in the early, nascent stages of forming a partnership, because we’d really like to expand the upper age range of the students we work with at Hilltop Artists. We have a middle school program and a high school program, so the next step would be to have a college program. We’re hoping to achieve it in the next five to ten years. The dream is to have a hot shop over at TCC and to be able to serve students from middle school through to college age. We have current students that are in our high school program that are Running Start students at TCC.”
Hilltop Artists, founded in the summer of 1994 by world-renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly, gallery owner Kathy Kaperick, and several others in the local community, now boasts more than 700 Pierce County students. Young artists between the ages of twelve and twenty-six can participate in daytime electives, after-school programs, team programs, and alumni projects. The program features two world-class hot shops: one at Hilltop Heritage Middle School and the other at Silas High School.
Dr. Keith explains how the idea for the exhibit came together about a year ago. “Our teaching at Hilltop Artists is primarily made up of alumni from the program,” she says. “We wanted to highlight them and our young people, to highlight their collaborative work. We had our thirtieth anniversary here last year. Staff members started when they were twelve. Now they’re married and have kids. They’re all grown up, but the thing is, they’re still learning from their students and each other.”
Carleigh Templin, who has two pieces on display at the exhibit, joined the program when she was twelve. She excelled early at flame working and eventually earned a scholarship to Pacific Lutheran University. After graduating last June, she took a job at Hilltop Artists as its full-time outreach coordinator.
“I’ve watched her journey over the last eight years,” Dr. Keith says. “She makes me laugh, has a great sense of humor, and is a very talented artist.”
So, too, is Jacob Willcox, another Tacoma artist featured at the exhibit. After getting his start at Hilltop Artists in 2012, he graduated from New York’s Alfred University in 2021 with a BFA and went on to become an accomplished glass and neon light artist. His pieces have been featured locally at the Museum of Glass and the Tacoma Art Museum and abroad at the New Bulgarian University.
“He went to Alfred when he was eighteen or nineteen,” Dr. Keith recalls. “He was the first freshman ever offered a position to be a teacher’s assistant. When he got there, he had so many skills from being at Hilltop for six years, so he was far and away one of the most accomplished students in the class.”
Hilltop Artists: All Grown Up is one of a handful of programs at TCC connecting artists with the general public. “The other educational programs are the Art History Book Club at noon on the first Wednesday of the month and a salon, a discussion, that is run by local artists from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month,” says Dr. Jennifer Olson, gallery coordinator and faculty member at TCC.
