Hilary studied illustration at RMIT 1960-63, assisted by the John Storey Junior Memorial Scholarship 62-63. Being strongly influenced by the natural environment and the artistic community in and around Eltham, her interest in illustration shifted to an art practice combining direct observation, the figure and the landscape. She shared those early days with a group of like-minded painters who had all been taught by students of Max Meldrum.
Private scholarships enabled her to study and work in Europe on three occasions.
In order to resolve her objectives she developed a studio practice by building studio/house in a Conservation Cooperative in the Bend Of Islands and utilising her collection of objects to reflect on the temporal nature of things and of observation itself.
She returned to RMIT (1997-2001) completing a degree in Fine Art, printmaking, followed by honours in sculpture.
Traces of Meldrum’s ideas, pain air priorities, landscape format and light are still evident in the current work that further develops the idea of altering the duration of the viewing experience.
Four years following her degree were spent working as an assistant to Robert Owen and more recently assisting her partner, Jeph Neale on public art projects.
Hilary and Jeph are founding members of, and have studios at Artery Cooperative in Northcote, Melbourne.