Pat Hillcoat

Patricia Ellen Hillcoat (née Hazel), known more commonly as Pat Hillcoat (14 January 1935 – 26 October 2022), was an Australian nurse, feminist, activist and artist specialising in watercolours and collage. Her work exploring themes of the body, advertising, sexuality and political activism featured in solo exhibitions in Canada and Australia.

Early life and education Hillcoat was born in Redland Bay, Queensland, Australia in 1935 to Richard George Hazel and Kathleen Elizabeth Hazel. She graduated in Nursing from the Brisbane General Hospital in 1956, graduating in 1972. It is during this time that Hillcoat was inspired by and participated in the North American women's movements which would go on to influence her artistic work. These movements were active in feminism, civil rights, black power, and protests against the Vietnam War.

On 29 August 1988, four artists' studios and a flat were destroyed by fire, with the entire building burning down near Queens Bridge Street, South Melbourne (now Southbank). The site also housed the photographic studios of Ross Bird and Polly Borland (married to Hillcoat's son John). Work dealing with the harmful effects of smoking for women, funded by grants from Quit Victoria and the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation. March 1994, Cut It Out, Tilley's Devine Cafe Gallery, Canberra March 1994, The Choice is Yours, Australian Women's Health Network, Canberra July 1994, Over Her Dead Body, aGOG (australian Girls Own Gallery), Canberra March 1999, What R We?, Tilley's Devine Cafe Gallery, Canberra

Group exhibitions

September 1981, Open Windows, Closed Doors, LaTrobe University, Melbourne October 1981, The Melbourne Society of Women Painters & Sculptors, Victorian Artists' Society Gallery July 1982, Women's Images, Prahran Gallery, Victoria College, Melbourne March 1983, Women's Week Exhibition, RMIT, Melbourne April 1984, Feminist Art Exhibition, Visibility Gallery, Carlton, Melbourne March 1986, Phillip Island Arts Council Exhibition August 1986, Women's Art Register Exhibition & Auction, Melbourne September 1988, Women's Art Register Exhibition & Auction, Melbourne October 1988, Oculos 10th Annual Acquisitive Exhibition, Melbourne March 1991, Joining Forces, 2nd International Women's Day exhibition, The Women's Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne September-October 1995, The Republic - Re:public vain glory or vision’, The Women's Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne December 1995, The Last Christmas Show, The Women's Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne August 1996, Sistertrust, ANCA Gallery, Canberra October 1996, Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne November 1996, The Calvary Hospital Art Show, Canberra May 2022, When you think about feminism, what do you think? George Paton Gallery, Feminisms 1975–2022, George Paton Gallery, University of Melbourne: Art & Cultural Building, Parkville, Melbourne. A retrospective of Little Sisters in Memorium (1989) among other feminist works.