Hilary Zelson is most known for her work as an installation and mixed media artist. She has a BA from Union College '11, in Schenectady, NY. She is currently working towards her Master of Fine Arts degree at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, in partnership with Tufts University, expected graduation in 2016. In 2010, she attended a prestigious artist residency at the Chautauqua School of Art, located in Chautauqua, NY.
In addition to working towards her MFA, Hilary was honored to have been selected to be the Lead Artist for the 2014-2015, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Community Arts Initiative, Artist Project. The Artist Project is a collaboration between an experienced artist, the Museum of Fine Arts, and ten community organizations in the Boston area. She is hard at work on the project. her guidance, the children will visit the museum, learn, and create art. In the end, the projects will spiral together to become one artwork created by 125 artists. The final installation will be displayed for six months in the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art at the MFA.
Last year Hilary devoted a significant portion of her time to public installation. She installed a glittering display, "M is for Meteorite", at Boston Children's Museum for the exhibit “An Alphabet of Inspiration: Artists Celebrate 100 Years of Collections." This installation combines her Sparkling Universe paintings along with minerals, rocks, geodes, and crystals from the extensive Boston Children’s Museum collection. Shortly after installing at BCM, she painted her first public art mural in Roxbury, MA. Her work on these installations inspired her to design a proposal to decorate a piano for the public art installation, “Play Me, I’m Yours”, which was selected, and then displayed outside the entrance of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. During this project, she transformed an old and worn, black baby grand piano, into an inviting oasis of visual and musical art.
Highlights from her career: She was one of the youngest to be included in the renowned “Adirondack's National Exhibition of American Watercolors". In 2012, photographs from "Colors of Night" were displayed in the Washington Art Association's exhibition "Young Talent 2012", and she exhibited "Dripping in Glitter", a solo exhibition, at Backstreet Gallery, in New Rochelle, New York. In 2012, Zelson's painting "Eagle Nebula" was included in the "55th Annual Chautauqua Exhibition of Contemporary Art", judged and curated by author and art critic Kim Levin. "Eagle Nebula" won the Deborah Anderson Award.
In addition to working as a fine artist, she is currently serves as a Museum Educator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for Artful Adventures, Artful Healing, Gallery Learning, and Studio Arts. She also offers private art instruction to all ages.