Holly Dowidat is the young ceramic artist who created the several dogs that received SO MUCH attention throughout the August 2011 Angola Phantom Gallery Renaissance – I myself witnessed many people stopping to point, stare, comment, and take photos. In this post you will see Holly through her own words as she responds to a set of Art Beat questions tailored for self-portraiture. This is an experiment: most artists are not writers as well, but seeing them directly per their own raw thoughts and words can be revealing and worthwhile. Holly’s art is very expressive, so let’s give audience to her literary self-portrait.
First though, get some coffee or tea if you like, no need to hurry. Take your time, absorb her words and expression … get to know her! And if you haven’t seen Holly’s work yet, check out her web site at www.dowidat.mosaicglobe.com.
Now, I present Holly:
Art has always been part of my life, from my parents to my other siblings, we would spend hours drawing. Zachary my older brother would spend hours on his projects from school and I would try to learn everything he knew...we would talk about owning an art business together and running it as partners.
My formal art education started young in school, and after graduating from Angola High school in 2003 I decided to on college at Indiana Purdue University of Fort Wayne for elementary art education, inspired by my own past teachers who helped me express myself as a child and gave me the tools and knowledge to do so.
Freshman college year I landed an internship at Walt Disney Resort’s Entertainment department. There I spent free time at MGM Studios talking to the artist and gaining knowledge. Returning to Indiana, my college studio classes took off: Printmaking, Painting, Sculpture, Metal Smiting, and Ceramics. Excited by so many different media, I opted for a Bachelors in Fine Art instead. A workshop at the Le Meridiana in Certaldo Italy changed my life, as I came back to the states very enthusiastic about Ceramics.
People often ask "Why dogs?" and "How do you come up with the ideas?" My audience seems to be very interested in my concepts and ideas. I created the dog series in my senior year of college for my thesis show. I choose dogs because of my great love for them, they are all different with their own personality and they express so much. Before doing any form of clay sculpture I do a lot of research to back up my imagination.
One of my favorite dog works is titled "Edgar, Time is a Wasting," which I created early in the Italy workshop without much experience, this piece was the beginning of the dog series. Another favorite is "Autumn, Changing Monochromatic," one of the series’ largest. She has stunning detail and always prompts questions on her construction, because of her wood carving with leaves.
I get excited when an idea comes. The first steps are research and concept drawings. Even if the drawings are not correct they give me a chance to push the idea from my head onto paper, so not to lose any concept. Then it is to the clay, and that's when my imagination takes over on detail, position, and theme. Unlike many media, ceramics go through a “firing” process, and which can destroy a sculpture, so I take extra time to make sure that my sculptures never endure that. Even then, a successful first firing doesn't necessarily mean the sculpture is completed, as I then have to choose how to apply color, glaze, under-glaze, or acrylic paints. Most of my sculptures use acrylic paint, which avoids the necessity of high temperatures that might cause cracks. Once finished I look forward showing the piece to others, in galleries, museums, and through my website. I market most of my sculptures through galleries and museums, and most of these buyers are dog lovers, I want them to go to a good home and I know that they will be shared with others. Some of my other “functional” work sells at art fairs for everyday use.
There are some new directions on my horizon. I am currently creating a body of work along the same direction of the dogs but using the Cheshire cat face and a playful side to express my own child like personality. I have already created one and currently have another in the process a little on the darker side of my personality, but the idea is a very rich one.
As for advice to relative newcomers in Ceramics: Never give up! It’s not easy to pursue your dreams but working at it and always creating something new will help. I try and get in the studio every day. Sometimes art turns into a business and you can always find new networks to establish your artwork in.
Back to Stephen:
Since Holly wrote the above, I learned more about her new, in-progress cat which she said is a little on the dark side but very rich [in concept]: The cat, menacing but famished, ribs showing white through midnight fur, has just now caught in its sharp claws a plump mouse [or rat?]. Feline fangs gleaming, the ravenous cat is poised to … The cat is the American body politic, and the mouse is the gluttonous governing class grown fat at the national expense while America has wasted. Despite its hunger the cat is far more powerful, the rat completely at its mercy. But what indeed will the cat do … ? Let the rat go to gorge yet more … Or … ?
Good questions, Holly.
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Stephen Rowe currently serves as the Angola Regional Artists’ Guild publicity chairman and writes two additional blogs:
Stephen welcomes correspondence of all sort per StephenRowe.OriGraphics@yahoo.com
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