Hermione Carline

Hermione was born into a family of artists, and grew up immersed in fine art. She studied Fine Art at Camberwell School of Art, followed by an MA in Textile design at the Royal College of Art. She Co-founded the design studio South West Eighteen, which became The collection in 1982. Carline’s designs have been sold throughout Europe, Japan and the USA including sales to Christian Dior, Pierre Cardin, and Ralph Lauren. Continuing in the fashion industry until 1995, Carline then left the fashion world to bring up her family before returning to her roots in painting in 2004. During this time she opened her own studio teaching art to adults and young people.


Photography, drawing from life, painting, mixed media and montage are all important components in Carline’s practice. The essence of her ideas is formed by sifting through and layering photographs and drawings of places and people she encounters. Her process is to abstract and pare down these initial ideas, creating new images, which then take on ambiguous meanings and abstractions. The images might be overlapped or juxtaposed placing contradicting ideas within a single piece. Reality is often distorted and figures placed out of their original context. These in turn lead on to her final compositions.



“Film Stills, silent interiors and the ever-changing world of fashion, have been an inspiration for me in the last year. I am interested in the people that inhabit these worlds, their relationships and how they relate to others. A Silent glance, a look in the eye, the tilt of the head. All speak of hidden messages, unspoken thoughts and repressed emotions. These are all patterns of behaviour that touch us all and affect our relationships with one another. The people in my paintings are no one in particular. They are there to represent these manifestations of human behaviour. The viewer is left to identify with these gestures or expressions in their own personal way.