Hillary Waters Fayle received a MFA in Craft and Material Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a BFA from Buffalo State College. She is an Assistant Professor and Head of the Fiber Area in the department of Craft/Materials Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. She has previously taught at Penland School of Craft (NC), the Mediterranean Art & Design Program in Italy, and Yasar University in Turkey. Her work has been widely exhibited and is included in the permanent collections of the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo, NY, the Kalmthout Arboretum & Botanical Gardens in Belgium, the United States Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka and several private collections. A public installation in collaboration with the AK Museum can be seen year round in Buffalo, NY. 

Fayle believes in a strong relationship between the land and our interior landscapes. Through this connection to our land, we are connected to ourselves, and one another. Through her work, she brings together materials and processes that express the union of humanity and the physical world. Whether it be through stitching, drawing, planting seeds, or harvesting, she says her hands echo the gestures made by thousands of hands over thousands of years, feeling connected to the lineage of people working with textiles, plants, and the land. 

“Stitching, like agriculture, can be functional– a technical solution to join materials/a means of survival– or, both can be done purely in service of the soul, lifting the spirit through beauty and wonder,” Hillary Waters Fayle.