Meet The New Quilt Artist: Hilary Peterson

Name of Artwork: Standing Tree

Born in Singapore, Hilary grew up in Sydney, Australia. She travelled extensively in Europe, Asia, USA and Mexico and more recently in Japan, moving to the Bega Valley in NSW 33 years ago.

Her love of nature was evident as a child, spending endless hours at the local creek, in the bush and in and on the water of the northern beaches area of Sydney. Initially trained as a commercial textile designer, working in Sydney and London, designing carpets, commercially printed fashion fabrics, furnishings and wallpapers. She completed a Master of Visual Arts degree in 2002. Research areas of interest involved landscape, the natural world, inter-connectivity/interdependence and place. This research continues to underpin her work.

Hilary works in many media including painting, drawing, printing, dyeing, stitching and felting, combining them in many works. Natural dyeing, used in most of her textile work, attaches it to place and fixes it in time. Journeying through a place Hilary’s work investigates fragility and ephemeral beauty, an unconscious memorising of particular aspects of the landscape that later resurface into consciousness. Her love of colour and texture are reflected in the rich surfaces of my work.

Teaching skills to others has been an enjoyable part of Hilary’s life since 1994. She has taught children and adults privately and through TAFE NSW, at Textile Fibre Forum in Geelong, Orange and in the Blue Mountains, Fibres Ballarat and Quilt Encounter in Adelaide.

Hilary Peterson online: Webpage  

The New Quilt, on exhibition at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW from 5 February – 11 April 2021. 

Gallery hours: Open 6 days a week Monday, Wednesday-Friday 10am-4pm Saturday-Sunday 10am-3pm. Closed on Tuesday and public holidays.