Born in Perth (1994), Olive Gill-Hille is a multidisciplinary artist and designer. Gill-Hille relocated to Melbourne to complete a Bachelor of Fine Art (2015) specialising in Sculpture at the Victorian College of the Arts, during this time she became interested in the utilitarian element of furniture and wanted to apply abstract and artistic concepts to practical objects. Seeking further study and to develop skills in making, Gill-Hille undertook the Associate Degree of Furniture Design at RMIT (2018).
Gill-Hille aims to create pieces that transform timber, a traditionally static material, into involved and unconventional works of art. The artist’s experimental structures often reference the human body, bodies supporting bodies, and adapting shapes and forms from the natural environment into man-made works. Developing a narrative surrounding the artworks, as well as drawing inspiration from the material’s history, and the artist’s working environment are key aspects of Gill-Hille’s practice.
There is a strength required in wrangling wood and using the requisite machinery and equipment that brings the artist’s own physical structure into acute focus. Importantly, this is amplified by that structure’s femininity; shapes of the feminine are reclaimed in these works, which are in dialogue with the modernist sculptures of male artists like Constantin Brâncuși, Isamu Noguchi and Jean (Hans) Arp. They are as such not only objects unto which the viewer might project, but extensions of the artist in the first instance; they embody her physical and emotional self.
Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert presented Gill-Hille’s first solo exhibition Trunk in 2021 and her second solo Asymptote in 2023. She has been included in exhibitions at the NGV Design Fair (2022/2023), Sydney Contemporary (2022/2024), New Australian Design at the Powerhouse, Melbourne Design Fair (2023). Gill-Hille is found in important private collections both in Australia and internationally, and a museum collection in the USA. Gilll-Hille was a Finalist in the Ramsey Art Prize 2023, Art Gallery of South Australia and has most recently been selected as a Finalist for the National Gallery of Victoria’s Rigg Design Prize to be exhibited later in 2025 at the Ian Potter Centre.
