It all started when…

Hilly trained in ceramics at Cambridge and worked as an art teacher and mother before  setting up a small studio in Surrey and now in Dorset. She creates handbuilt abstract ceramic sculptures and can be persuaded to produce thrown pieces. Hilly learnt to carve stone at the Portland Quarry Trust with Paul Crabtree and Hannah Sofar

She draws on her memories of pattern and texture from when she lived in Zimbabwe as a child and her abstract pieces are grounded in the landscape and natural world of Africa, Australia and New Zealand. She is intrigued with the possibilities contained in seed forms and the spiral pull of shells and fossils. Glazes in recent ceramic work explores the blues of sky and sea off Weymouth and Portland.

The rich carvings of unfurling tree ferns found in New Zealand were inspirational and she found this Maori saying carved into one building:

"where there is artistic endeavour- there is human dignity" and she carved these words into stone to be placed outside her studio.

Fran has always been intrigued with textures and colour in every environment. She explores these in detail through her camera lens. As well as a series based on floral themes Fran now investigates the use of tryptic to engage the viewer with the subtle nuances of line and textures as they try to realign the three images. Her photographs are collected as she walks the coastal path near Weymouth, her garden and on her travels to visit her family in Africa and on her holidays. Her work isolates small sections of a larger image in order to draw attention to the fascinating detail of light on water, tree bark and seeds. Fran’s latest work is looking at connecting horizons across different images.

Then there are their children who will contribute from time to time.