photo credit: Mia Carameros


Artist Statement

I often use collections of drawings and 2-dimensional cut-outs to create relief wall installations. Most recently I’ve been visually and conceptually interested in exploring the patterns found in storm imagery. The devastation of recent natural disasters and the humanly unstoppable forces that created them both frighten and fascinate me. Ironically, images of storm mappings, waves crashing, and tornadoes twirling are often beautiful and mysteriously intriguing. I call it the beautiful monster affect.

I'm mainly interested in documentation, and I am cataloging and archiving my life through drawings of memories, events, objects, and the people I know. Drawing is the most honest and vulnerable form of documentation I could use. Presenting my hand in the work is important to me. By representing the details of experience, the everyday, and the left over pieces, I feel that I can preserve my culture, family, memory, and experience.


Biography

Born in Independence, KY, Hollis Hammonds graduated with a BFA in Drawing from Northern Kentucky University in 1998, and received her MFA in Painting and Drawing at the University of Cincinnati in 2001. Currently she is Area Coordinator and Assistant Professor of Art and the Director of the Fine Arts Exhibit Program at St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX. She has exhibited her work throughout the U.S. including shows at Indiana State University, the Arts + Literature Laboratory, Eastern Oregon University, & Atlantic Center for the Arts.