An Explanation About My Art

You don't get an explanation. I will leave the interpretation up to you. I will only say that the meaning in my art is deeply personal, and I am a very private person.

However, the least I suppose I could do is introduce myself. I have been drawing all my life. I was born in Camrose, Alberta but was raised in Regina, Saskatchewan. So, as my father fondly states, I was produced in Alberta, but refined in Saskatchewan. I grew up, for the most part, in Regina, found the love of my life online before it was fashionable, and moved down to Florida to live with the oranges and dolphins for a couple of years. Then we both moved back up to Canada because we know more people our own age up here... Oh, and medicare is free, people at the 7-11 greet you cheerfully with 'good morning,' and no one is hidden behind bullet-proof glass when you go to buy a bag of chips and fill up the gas tank. And when you go buy a bag of chips you will be happy to see, "Yes, Virginia, There ARE Ketchup Chips." Sibling-wise, I have a brother in Alberta and another who lives in BC, where my parents also moved in 2010. I work at a call centre which is the salvation and bane of my existence at the same time. My husband has a guitar business locally that he loves dearly. After working a long time for other people who don't give a damn about him, I'm very proud that he's come so far.

I love cartoons by Charles Schulz, Bill Watterson, Gary Larson, Darby Conley, Patrick McDonnell, Lynn Johnston, and locally Dakota McFadzean, to name a few. As far as my favourite visual artists go, I like Picasso, Van Gogh, Duchamp, Dali, but I also like some more local artists such as Fafard, O'Flanagan, Gorenko, Cowin and Perreault. I will say that I have a deep interest in psychology and the workings of the mind, which I confess does seem to sneak into my paintings more recently. I especially like Carl Jung, Victor Frankl and a few others. Even fancied the idea of becoming a psychologist, but for now, I think I will continue working in my art.

I have done everything from published cartoons (if you farm and read GrainNews, or shoot animals and read sporting magazines you may have seen my early attempts at single panel cartoons), to having my paintings or ink drawings displayed in a few art shows and galleries (until recently, nothing since high school). I got into my 'real' jobs. I've worked everywhere from community associations for the City of Regina childrens' art and summer programs, to greenhouses, to Extra Foods, to Shoppers Drug Mart, to subbing for various school divisions, to the infamous StarTek (if you like stress, you might enjoy working there) to my present job at Sasktel (I like this job the best, so far, thank you).

I suppose this is something worthy of mention: the first time I actually showed at the annual art exhibition at Buffalo Days (it's a fair, now called Queen City Ex) I somehow managed to get first prize at a local exhibition in the Youth Category and sell one of my pencil crayon drawings. I've also had a couple of other local showings, once or twice at the MacKenzie Art Gallery (at the old location on College and not it's current location on Albert Street in the TC Douglas Building). As a high school student, I even had a painting featured on a student bus pass (there was a competition to give young people some exposure: 12 students, one for each month of the year, had their art featured on the bus pass). For four glorious summers in a row, I spent two weeks at what was then the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts. I applied to get into the Fine Arts program at the U of R, and was accepted at the age of 17 into university. I was a bit too tender and green for the workload, and lacked motivation for the electives. I remember a few professors who were terrific (Cowin being one), but some profs and their attitudes really cut to my core. After two years I switched to and Arts Education (I completed one year, with a three year hiatus in between, then graduated after another three years), but decided after three years of substitute teaching, as well as some health issues, that this wasn't for me.

Long story short (I know, too late): I let a lot of stress and busy-work take over my life, and if it weren't for the encouragement and support of a few very important people in my life, I'd still be stressed out and busy instead of putting my foot down and getting back to my art. I was surprised at how much I need to do this activity. It's my oxygen. I can get a bit buggy if I don't get a chance to put my thoughts on paper or canvas.

But I still don't want to have to explain my art. It's not my attempt at being mysterious or eccentric. It's just too personal to go into. And besides, I would rather you come away with your own ideas, feelings and interpretation of my images. It is the same with reading that delicious book with insatiable gusto (something I love to do). You see the images and hear the character's voices in your mind and you imagine the scenes as they unfold: it rivets you. Now, if someone interprets the author's words into images and audio onto a movie screen, then your own digested ideas and thoughts are somehow squelched as your mind is flooded by this intrusion, however creative and exciting it is.

Imagine putting an imprint on your soul, and then someone coming along and washing your imprint away, replacing it with their own. Your very own impression will be barely visible underneath, or may completely disappear. Saturated and covered by this imposing meaning, where does your personal identification with the image go? Do you not find it nearly impossible to keep your original vision strong and clear?

Images can become Symbols. The intriguing thing is, somehow, images can strike a chord, albeit in different tones, to different people. When I begin to exhibit my Symbols and Images in a gallery space, I hope you come to visit and interpret. If not, I hope you enjoy them as they are presented here on this blog.

-Holly Freeman-

- A couple of things I do want to mention regarding the layout of this blog... Newest images are posted at the top; very old posts are available through the archived links on the right, or by hitting the 'older posts' link at the bottom; clicking on images will enlarge them. -