Artist Statement

What We Leave Behind is an exhibition of ceramic sculptures and drawings on paper that investigate my personal experiences with home, legacy, memory, and the inherent grief of close relationships. 

As someone who has lived in several distinct locations, I’ve never been able to point to a place on a map and say, with confidence, that there is where I’m from. There is one place, though, that I consider a childhood home. This is the house of my Oma and Opa (my grandparents, who are German and who live in Germany). They’ve lived in the same house since 1976, and I’ve visited them frequently my entire life. The decor of their home has remained relatively unchanged since I can remember, most notably featuring a vast collection of taxidermy from Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa. I have strong, visceral memories of heads, horns, hides, and hooves integrated into the furniture and walls that became part of my daily view during my extended visits. 

In conceptualizing this exhibition, I sank into my remembrance of these liminal family objects and had to acknowledge the strange territory they inhabit. They exist at the intersection of memorial, trophy, sculpture, and effigy. From this lens I began to examine the greater body of my work and found some startling but ultimately unsurprising similarities: an interest in the animal form, though not in its natural setting, a clear duty to verisimilitude, and a curiosity about what hidden stories these portraits might tell.

While making work for this exhibition, I experienced a loss. I said goodbye to my elderly dog, Tilly, who had been my friend for many years and through many formative experiences. In this parting she gave me one final gift: a chance to sit with my grief and find meaning in it through the process of my work. I spent time reflecting on the inherent grief in all close relationships and found that these tender and fragile connections were more, not less, precious for their ephemerality. 

Grief is indeed an unavoidable experience in all relationships. It is the price we pay for love. In my own experiences with grief, I have found it to be an iterative process, something I return to seeking answers and then, having left but found none, return seeking once again. There is a rhythm and a comfort to the process, something sacred in the return. In this way, I’ve found parallels in the process of grief and the process of my own work. I cling to the craft of it because of the return and dedication this requires. I sculpt rather than cast. I draw in the permanent medium of ink, which speaks to the indelibility of decision and evidence of encounter. For my sculptures I work with discarded and preserved parts of animals for reference, sourced from a local taxidermist, and in this way I regularly sit very literally with loss. In the culmination of these actions I create an impression of my own understanding surrounding what it means to be alive and what it means to be connected to others.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Hilary Rochow is a multidisciplinary artist and designer based in San Antonio, Texas. She is best known for her drawings on paper of animal figures in black ink. Her wider practice includes ceramic sculpture and functional ware. Hilary holds a Bachelors of Industrial Design from Auburn University. Her training and experience in design inform her understanding of visual communication, and her lifelong adoration of the natural world weaves its way into her choice of animal and plant subjects. 

Hilary is a recipient of the Individual Artist Grant from the City of San Antonio for the 2025 cycle. Her drawings and sculptures have been featured in the San Antonio Current as well as Glasstire. Her drawings have been published in Passage, an online arts publication based in Dallas. She has shown work at multiple galleries throughout Texas including FL!GHT, The Conroy Gallery, Mercury Project, Space C7, Wrong Marfa, and Ornamental Cabbage. Beyond her art practice, Hilary teaches a variety of media and subjects at University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Southwest. She serves as the art advisor for the Modern In San Antonio (M!SA) Advisory Panel, and is a founding member of Clay SA, a ceramic-focused studio tour and showcase premiering November 2025. Hilary operates her own gallery in the Southtown Arts District, Rojo. She is most often found in her Southtown studio alongside her loving dog and very bad cat.