A new exhibition of photographs that celebrates Wiltshire’s historic woodlands opens in Devizes on 28 September. ‘Wanderlust’, by local artist Hilary Stock, showcases works that capture the Savernake Forest and West Woods. The exhibition, on display at the White Chalk Gallery Fine Art in Devizes, will also include images of the coastline of Cornwall, Morocco and The Gambia, reflecting Hilary’s wider travels.
“I particularly love being in the forest with my camera,” says Hilary, who lives in Great Bedwyn, outside Marlborough. “I find them places of stillness and calm, especially beech forests like West Woods, where the simplicity of the tree trunks and the spacing make it something very special. It’s a sense of calm that I try to recreate in my pictures. There are so many interesting places around Wilshire that I’m never lost for inspiration.”
“Hillary takes photography into the realms of fine art,” says Bryony Cox, the artist who owns White Chalk Gallery, in Old Swan Yard, Devizes. “Her pictures explore depth and focus as she experiments with how you can experience a sensation as you move around the work.” The show will also feature sculptures by Tom Hiscocks, the award-winning British contemporary artist who works mainly in copper and stainless steel.
Hilary makes limited edition artworks out of her images. She works closely with her framers, Ed and Alex Fruen at Original Glory, in Devizes. Some of the photographs are handfolded, others have a 3D effect that recreates walking between trees. Her pictures, bought by collectors around the world, have also been exhibited at Fisherton Mill in Salisbury, The White Horse Gallery in Marlborough and at The Gallery Little Bedwyn.
For the past year, Hilary has been photographer-in-residence at Horatio’s Garden in Salisbury District Hospital, where she works with patients adjusting to life with spinal injuries. She has also been a lifestyle photographer for Womad, the world music festival near Malmesbury.
She began her working life making documentary features for BBC Radio 4 and has lived twice in India – first in Kerala and later in New Delhi. She now divides her time between Wiltshire and Cornwall, where her mother and grandmother grew up.
Wanderlust: Wiltshire, Cornwall and Beyond, runs from 28 September to 21 October at the White Chalk Gallery Fine Art, No.5 Old Swan Yard, Devizes. Whitechalkgallery.co.uk; hilarystock.co.uk