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| Four Seasons Hemet Herald | September 2016 | 23 The Creative Spotlight Vicki Hitt: Multi- Media and Digital Artist, Writer, Photographer, Jewelry Maker, Retired Teacher and Therapist Vicki and her husband, Jim Hitt, moved to Hemet in July 2006. Before that, she taught history, psychology and sociology for 25 years in Simi Valley. She graduated from California Lutheran University with a master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and became a licensed MFT in California. She used art therapy to help her better understand the inner-working of her patients, especially children. After retiring, she returned to college to study art. She works in all mediums, although primarily in pastels and acrylics. She enjoys photography and uses many of her photos as references for paintings. She is also an active member of the Diamond Valley Writers' Guild. She's active in the Four Seasons Book Club, past chairperson of the Art League and member of the New Media Art Group. Her husband and she have two critique writing groups in their home. Building textures and experimenting with new mediums keeps her excited about art in which the possibilities are endless. Color is at the core of every piece of art she creates. Recently, Vicki started making jewelry and decorative tiles. Her goal is to create art that will stimulate the curiosity of the viewer. Her works have been on exhibit in three galleries in the Riverside area. Vicki can be reached at vhitt@ hotmail.com. Please contact Lucia K. Wolfer, (951) 552-5557 or 2creativespotlight@gmail.com if you have any questions about this column or wish to be highlighted in the Hemet Herald Magazine. Any resident will be featured who has any creative interest in any discipline. Thank you! jim Hitt: Jim Hitt, writer, photographer and artist, is a graduate of North Texas State University and holds a BA in English and history and a MA in history. In addition to his many articles related to the West and film, he is the author of The American West, From Fiction Into Film (McFarland, 1991), which has been called the definitive monograph on the subject, and Words And Shadows (Citadel, 1993), an examination of mainstream American literature and its connection to film. He is also represented in The Louis L'Amour Companion (Andrews and McMeel, 1992). In 2001, Adventure Books published his novel The Last Warrior. In 2009 his short story The Boy with Too Much Hair won the grand prize for best fantasy story from OnceWritten. com. In 2010 Aberdeen Bay released Carny: A Novel In Stories, which won the Grand Prize for Fiction at the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. He has also been a guest speaker at the Gene Autry Museum. Open Books has just published his latest novel The Courage Of Others, which has been nominated for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. He is also a graduate of the Photoshop Artistry class of Sebastian Michaels, which ignited an interest in digital art. His interest in the American West is evident not only in his non-fiction and fiction, but also in several of his photographic subjects.