THOMPSON, Hilli

1946 - ?

As Hilary S. Sheldrick, she was born at Edmonton, London on 3 April 1946, daughter of Arthur James Sheldrick (22 March 1917-1997) and his wife Stella Georgina née Peck (1925-9 October 2013), who married at Hendon, Middlesex in 1944. Hilli, as she is known, married at Brent, London in 1969, Brian G. Thompson and paints under the name of Hilli Thompson. Hilli was educated at Brondesbury and Kilburn Grammar School and studied at Newcastle University 1964-1967 followed by Ulster 1968-1971 and at Leeds 1976-1977 to study anthropology, which had a positive influence in the cultivation of her artistic skill. Initially she worked as botanical illustrator in linocut, etching, pen, pastel, and acrylic producing detailed drawings of whatever plants were sent to her and she began to produce images of simplified shapes, both figurative and pastoral. Inspired to learn more about 'glass art' she enrolled on a course for glass designers and makers at Royal College of Art, Kensington, where she was instructed in the creation of kiln-fused glass, progressing from flat glass to shaped fused pieces, which is now the bulk of her output. Hilli continues to be inspired by the flora and fauna of urban parks and gardens and is imbued with a passion for rich triumphant colours, a characteristic passed on to her by her father, a keen amateur artist. Her early admiration for Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898) and Georges Rouault (1871-1956), Hilli outlined her designs with bold black charcoal pencil, filled with distinctive colour. A member of the Ipswich Art Society and exhibited from 42 Dover Road, Ipswich in 1997, 'Vision of Oz' and 'Highlands and Lowlands'. She was the illustrator for Clive Stace's 'New Flora of the British Isles' (1996).

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Works by This Artist