ABOUT
Carly Hitchcock is a multidisciplinary artist and designer whose work explores emotional landscapes, animistic beliefs, and relationships between nature and culture. Trained as a graphic designer, Carly uses her eye for composition and a variety of hand painting and stitching techniques to create whimsical and detailed work. Each piece integrates her personal journey with the diverse cultures of the places she’s experienced.
Born in South Africa and raised in New Zealand, Carly has lived and worked in South Korea, Japan and now Australia. It was in Japan that she honed her visual style and lifelong love of traditional crafts, while running a business selling artisan Japanese ceramics. Her current home of Ballarat provides the peaceful environment that she needs to create her work.
Drawing inspiration from antique East Asian blue and white pottery, Carly creates detailed, ephemeral paintings using acrylic gouache on textured watercolour paper. She also experiments with layered, mindfully hand-stitched textile work. Her current body of work focuses on the local plants, animals and geographic forms of the places she’s lived in.
Her work weaves together tales of nature and culture, inviting viewers in to reflect on their own journeys.
EXHIBITIONS
2026
"From the Studio 3.0", Artemisia Gallery, Melbourne
"The Moon Bird Sings" (solo show), Kilderkin Distillery, Ballarat
"Teeny Tinies", Gifts at Teacup, Roma
"Rainbow Exhibition", The Convent, Daylesford
"Bats & Belonging", Untether Gallery, Geelong
2025
"Ballarat Clay Collective & Friends: The Christmas Album", The Unicorn Collection, Ballarat
"Japan Culture and Art Festival", Collingwood Town Hall, Melbourne
"Let Us Know What You Love Art Trail", Ballarat City Council, Ballarat (commissioned in 2025, still to be displayed)
EDUCATION
Massey University, Visual Communication Design (1st Class Hons.) 2011