EASTON, MD.- The Academy Art Museum hosts two new exhibitions in July that are sure to provide a respite from the summer’s heat. Matthew Hiller’s exhibition, “An Englishman Abroad: Oil Paintings by Matthew Hillier,” will be on display at the Museum July 14 - August 26, 2012. Matthew Hillier was born in the United Kingdom , and now lives in Tunis Mills, MD, with his artist wife Julia Rogers, and son Patrick. He spent many years working as a wildlife illustrator, traveling the world studying and painting wildlife. Matthew is a multi-award winning artist both in the US and in the UK . He has work in many private collections and several museums.

Although he still loves to paint wildlife, Hillier has "stepped out of the box" and now paints any subjects that inspire him. He and Julia spend the summers sailing around the Miles River , off the Chesapeake Bay , looking for things to paint. He also really enjoys painting the ocean and birds and wildlife of the Eastern Shore , along with its dramatic skies and water. Hillier is an instructor at the Museum and predominately paints in oils. He will be teaching a special workshop to coincide with his exhibition in August.

A second exhibition by artist, Mark Leithauser, entitled: Mark Leithauser Nature and Illusion,” from July 28 through September 30, 2012. Leithauser devoted the early years of his career to the graphic arts, impressed with the engravings and etchings of Durer and Rembrandt. Often linked to surrealism and super realism, Leithauser began to paint intensively in the early 1980s. Foremost a draftsman, Leithauser works with the precise technique of silverpoint. His work prompts the mind to wonder. The small scale of the paintings and the personal nature of the items engage the viewer to scrutinize and imagine the answer to the kaleidoscopic puzzle at hand. Words peek out of scattered, postmarked envelopes; antique tools and toys lean and topple over; and potted bulbs and firecrackers lie about in seemingly haphazard order.

Leithauser received a bachelor’s degree in Classics and two master’s degrees in Fine Arts from Wayne State University in Detroit , Michigan , where he taught studio art for two years. He has exhibited his work in galleries in New York and Washington , DC , and at the Brooklyn Museum , the Detroit Institute of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the National Museum of American Art, and the Library of Congress.

Leithauser is the Senior Curator and Chief of Design for the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. He has been exclusively represented by Hollis Taggart Galleries in New York City for over 10 years.