“My work is very connected to my everyday life. I am inspired by the plants and birds from my garden and the landscapes are of the places I go” – Kit Hiller, 2014
A sharp observer of nature and life, Christine (Kit) Hiller’s depictions of the flora and avian fauna of Tasmania, where she lives and works, are both striking and engaging in their imagery. Her masterful linocuts are characterised by strong outlines with at once bold and decorative hand-colouring. More than realist interpretations of nature, Hiller’s strong design aesthetic celebrates the subject with reiterations of the patterns found in feather or frond through background forms and hand colouring.
Like the works of Margaret Preston, Hiller’s linocuts combine aspects of modernism and primitivism, they are embellished and attractive without excessive ornamentation. Striking in their reduction of line with solid blocking of harmonious colour to balance the decorative aspects of the work.
Hiller is also well known for her striking self-portraits, realised as both linocuts and paintings, as well as a beautiful series of boxed dioramas the artist created to pay homage to her favourite artists from history, such as Frida Kahlo, Vincent van Gogh and Edward Hopper.
Over her significant career Hiller has completed more than 400 linocut blocks. Hiller was awarded the Portia Geach Memorial Award in 1986 and 1987 and her work has been included in the Archibald Prize Exhibition on five occasions. Kit Hiller was named Tasmanian of the year in 1987 and remains one of Tasmania’s most respected and successful artists. Her work is represented in major collections in Australia and overseas.
View Kit Hiller’s online exhibition
Kit Hiller is pictured with her work ‘The Old Painter’
Image courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald, photography: Simon Alkena