About Hollis Hammonds
Artist Statement
My work is simply about documentation; cataloguing and archiving my life through the drawings of memories, objects or the people around me. I’m literally collecting the memorabilia of my life before its end, archiving all of my worldly possessions, experiences, and memories and then presenting them in ideal arrangements on the wall.
Growing up in the Midwest, collecting was a natural activity for me. From Cold War obsessions to nick-knack excesses, I mimicked my family’s bizarre ritual of saving everything, and hoarding anything found in multiple. In rebellion against the excesses of my parents, I became a minimalist in my adult life. It is through the non-stop collection of these observational drawings that I’m playing out my childhood remembrances.
Drawing is the most honest and vulnerable form of documentation I could use. Presenting my hand in the work is important to me, along with the ritual act of physically recording the superficial objects of my life. 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.
My work is simply about documentation; cataloguing and archiving my life through the drawings of memories, objects or the people around me. I’m literally collecting the memorabilia of my life before its end, archiving all of my worldly possessions, experiences, and memories and then presenting them in ideal arrangements on the wall.
Growing up in the Midwest, collecting was a natural activity for me. From Cold War obsessions to nick-knack excesses, I mimicked my family’s bizarre ritual of saving everything, and hoarding anything found in multiple. In rebellion against the excesses of my parents, I became a minimalist in my adult life. It is through the non-stop collection of these observational drawings that I’m playing out my childhood remembrances.
Drawing is the most honest and vulnerable form of documentation I could use. Presenting my hand in the work is important to me, along with the ritual act of physically recording the superficial objects of my life. 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.