Help preserve our future
West Dean is part of a registered charity and relies on the support of generous donors, friends, legacies to help us deliver world-class education in conservation and the creative arts and maintain our award-winning gardens.
Hilary Simon
Hilary Simon worked as a TV costume designer for many years, whilst also exhibiting her work in solo shows as an artist and silk painter. She has taught internationally in art centres and Universities.
She studied batik in Java with a master, and then discovered the
French technique of serti, using a gutta gum resist line, which she
practises and teaches. Her silk painting designs have been
published for book covers, posters, giftwrap, greeting cards and
home ware.
She is a specialist in Latin American textiles and has been the
guest curator for two major exhibitions at the Fashion and Textile
Museum, Bermondsey: 'Made in Mexico, The Rebozo in Art, Culture
and Fashion' in 2014 and more recently an exhibition about
Peruvian textiles named 'Weavers of the Clouds, Textile Arts of
Peru', June-September 2019.
Her silk painting classes are full of colour and life. She creates
a fun and relaxed atmosphere in which to enjoy this very rewarding
media, which has very positive results.