Hilary Brace

Hilary Brace is recognized for her intimately sized, yet sublime charcoal drawings of waves, clouds and wildly Baroque weather. In reviewing her drawings, The New York Times wrote, “once in a while you come across an art of such refined technique that it seems the product of sorcery more than human craft…” Starting with the smooth surface of polyester film darkened with charcoal, Brace works in a reductive manner by removing charcoal with erasers and other handmade tools. According to Christopher Knight of the LA Times, the work “conjures ephemeral poetics of light and space.” Inspired by Raphael’s tapestries while a visiting artist at the American Academy of Rome, Brace considered how she could translate her images into large-scale textile pieces. She was introduced to the TextielMuseum in Tilberg, The Netherlands and began working with their TextielLab. The sophisticated jacquard looms allowed for fine detail and complex thread combinations that resulted in what Brace calls, “a light-reactive surface..so that the pieces change in response to the light source or position of the viewer.”

Recognition for Brace's work includes a Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Drawing, grants from the Pollock Krasner Foundation, and a California Arts Council Fellowship. Solo exhibitions have been favorably reviewed in major publications including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Art in America and The New Yorker. Brace's work has been exhibited in numerous museums in California, including Ben Maltz Gallery at Otis College of Art and Design, Riverside Art Museum, Bakersfield Museum of Art, Scripps and Pomona Colleges. Museum exhibitions nationally have included the Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC; Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID; Telfair Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN; Real Artways, Hartford, CT; and the Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA.