A:LIST A Project of the Hyde Park Art Center

Holly Cahill

Artist Information

Born: Ft. Thomas, KY
Currently Resides: Chicago, IL

Contact Information:
hollyacahill (at) yahoo (dot) com

Medium(s) Worked in:
Painting
Ceramic Wheel Throwing
Photography
Printmaking
Mixed-media
Plaster Casting

Artist CV:
Download file

Available for Commissions: Yes

HPAC Exhibitions

2006, Material Science

Artist Bio

MFA, University of Cincinnati. BFA, Syracuse University. Received Meta Wolfstein Travel Fellowship to Japan in order to research topics of aesthetics in relation to her studio practice. Teaching experience at the college level includes courses in basic drawing, figure drawing, 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional design. Has taught adult and children’s courses in ceramics within art centers for several years and is a former Montessori preschool teacher. Has been in numerous exhibitions in the Greater Cincinnati area and has begun to exhibit work in Chicago as a new resident of the city. Her most recent exhibits include “Material Science,” as part of a faculty group exhibit at the Hyde Park Art Center and “Intersecting,” a group exhibit at Mars Gallery in Chicago.

According to Holly Cahill skin is porous. We breathe and take in our surroundings or we have little recourse. The boundaries between landscape and self are fluid and permeable. Our environment is essentially us; absorbed, reconstituted, and reconfigured. It is only natural, therefore, to seek out in our environment a type of genealogy in the geography.
By studying processes, for example, that imitate flow formations, the layering of sedimentary rock, or the building and erosion of mountains, I apply my curiosity by investigating movements in the landscape deposited through time. The mountain ranges, as timeless as they are, have a history of transformation as do the hairline cracks in the road and the everyday forms that we encounter. There is an underlying circulatory system connecting these signs of events already occurred or in the process of change.
My method of working is a product of experimentation. I value the results that are not calculated precisely and allow the gesture of the moment to communicate through the raw materials of the work. These materials can then take on physical traces left visible in the landscape such as fluidity, growth, stress, pressure, and wear, while also being infused with the human gesture. Throughout this process of working, a tension takes place between my design and the design of the material; evolving into a language of pattern and form partially beyond control. My work examines the recirculation of self into and from an immensely beautiful, fragile, and contentious landscape.

Additional Information