A canopy of snow-dusted branches and a storm unfurling over open fields are among the naturalistic scenes captured by the winning painters of Hillsboro’s acclaimed public art contests.

At the end of June, the city of Hillsboro announced the recipients of its 2025 Picture Hillsboro and Permanent Collection awards — two annual honors that recognize local artists while adding new works to the city’s growing public art collection.

2025 Picture Hillsboro Award

Taking home the 2025 Picture Hillsboro Award, Washington County-based painter William Martini was honored for his expressive landscape, “A Little Snow, Jackson Bottom Wetlands.” Painted outdoors in February near the Tualatin River, the piece evokes a dreamlike woodland where winter’s hush settles among dense, layered brushwork.

Martini picked up the brush three decades ago and has lived in Washington County nearly as long. In recent years, his focus has shifted to plein air landscapes and portraiture.

“His ancestors came to Oregon in the 1840s, and he feels the Pacific Northwest is his proper place,” the city shared in a statement. “(Martini) enjoys contemplating the passage of time, our inevitable decay and disappearance, and the mysterious transformations and renewals that may follow.”

The Picture Hillsboro award highlights artwork that reflects the city’s people, places and stories. Recipients receive a $1,000 commission for the purchase and reproduction rights of their selected piece. Limited-edition prints are then presented as official gifts during city delegations and visits from dignitaries.

2025 Permanent Collection Award

Elizabeth Diane Nave, a Hillsboro-based artist, received the 2025 Permanent Collection Award for her piece “Groveland Drive” — a vivid gouache painting that depicts a storm stretching over the coast range and across the open land north of the city’s urban growth boundary.

Nave’s artistic lens is shaped by an uncommon path: a professional background in tech failure analysis and a creative shift inspired by birding and time spent in nature. Her current work reflects a desire to move beyond intricate detail toward a looser, more organic visual language.

“The fields and wetlands serve as metaphors for what she wants to cultivate in her art: natural, organic and ever evolving,” the city noted.

Selected by a community-based committee, the Permanent Collection Award supports Hillsboro artists whose work may fall outside the more representational themes of Picture Hillsboro. The city purchases original pieces for up to $1,000 to be added to its public collection.

With more than 100 works by local, national and international artists, Hillsboro’s public art collection places community vibrancy at the center of the canvas — bringing art into civic buildings and shared spaces to enliven neighborhoods, reflect history and celebrate cultural diversity.