A brief bio...
Hi! I'm Brent Holland, owner of Studio Holland Art. I'm an Associate Professor in the Department of Art and Visual Culture in the College of Design at Iowa State University where I teach all levels of painting and drawing. I hold a Masters of Fine Arts degree in painting from the University of Washington, Seattle and a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in drawing from Missouri State University, Springfield. My work has been exhibited throughout the US and is represented by Olson-Larsen Galleries in West Des Moines, Iowa.
I choose to "theme" my artwork to focus on the process and psychology of observation and creation. Many artists consider themselves to be a filter through which their observations are recorded on the canvas. Artists such as Lucian Freud, Antonio Lopez Garcia and Alberto Giacometti worked to capture the world as they saw it. The contemporary painter Ann Gale says her work is a “diary of looking”.
My work is the accumulation of thousands of moments of looking with layers of multiple visual insights. Forms in cavernous studio spaces and on walls come into sharp focus and dissolve into ethereal impressions. The final product serves as a physical record of my visual experience and organization. In this way, I’m connected to the ancient tradition of drawing and painting that dates back over thirty thousand years. Here's an Interview that taps into my creative philosophy. Interview was post-award for Iowa Arts Council Fellowship.
I absorb information visually first, and also through listening. I love music! These White Stripes lyrics resonate with me.
I choose to "theme" my artwork to focus on the process and psychology of observation and creation. Many artists consider themselves to be a filter through which their observations are recorded on the canvas. Artists such as Lucian Freud, Antonio Lopez Garcia and Alberto Giacometti worked to capture the world as they saw it. The contemporary painter Ann Gale says her work is a “diary of looking”.
My work is the accumulation of thousands of moments of looking with layers of multiple visual insights. Forms in cavernous studio spaces and on walls come into sharp focus and dissolve into ethereal impressions. The final product serves as a physical record of my visual experience and organization. In this way, I’m connected to the ancient tradition of drawing and painting that dates back over thirty thousand years. Here's an Interview that taps into my creative philosophy. Interview was post-award for Iowa Arts Council Fellowship.
I absorb information visually first, and also through listening. I love music! These White Stripes lyrics resonate with me.
Well, you're in your little room and you're working on something good but if it's really good you're gonna need a bigger room, and when you're in the bigger room you might not know what to do. You might have to think of how you got started sitting in your little room. The White Stripes - Little Room 7/31/2001 |
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How'd it come to thisI've lived in Des Moines the longest of all my adult homes. My wife and I fell in love in Springfield, MO, and we stuck it out through relocations from Lille, Fr to NYC to Seattle before growing our family and careers back in the Heartland! I run my studio business with my awesome wife, Erica. We tie our lives together closely between raising our three daughters, Vera, Margaret and Naomi, and making this business together.
You'll want to follow our blog! Erica and I individually share insights and inspirations. |
Partners in crime (not really)! Erica & Brent Holland
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Studio Holland Art donates a percentage of annual profit to k-12 arts education
Resume
Feel welcome to check out my resume.
Recent Collections
Biomorphic
Attention to color theory and skilled painting qualities inform these organic hi-definition forms. Since 2011, I have developed my skill with digital software programs that I use to optimize the stroke, texture, form, color, and shape of my images. I hope you enjoy the skillful execution of painting and drawing that merges traditional and digital media.
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Paintings & Drawings
My recent large-scale works combine digital technology with traditional drawing methods to seamlessly produce drawings that express the underlying analog truth within the subject matter. Expanding on some earlier work, I observe the details of my sphere of existence to have a better understanding of the complex nature of being alive in the 21st Century. Through the process of drawing and painting, I see my sphere of existence plainly, without preconceived notions of style and beauty and hopefully in that, I document a glimpse of something meaningful in life
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Public Art
Intended for the people of Greater Des Moines, I transformed a commuter bus into a travelling canvas. Des Moines is known for the convergence of the Raccoon & Des Moines Rivers. Picture the bus has just splashed through a river of paint. Symbolically, Des Moines' burgeoning art scene is also converging.
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