Today we’d like to introduce you to Hollie Davis.
Hi Hollie, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was living in the Beverly Morgan Park neighborhood in Chicago Il. I started going to a coffee shop next door was a gallery and wellness space. I became friends with the owner and she offered me to have a solo exhibition in her space. That was when I had the idea for The Connect Residency. It’s three years later and we’ve exhibited over 75 artists. The Connect Residency is a virtual residency with an in person exhibition. We meet for five weeks virtually. We teach skills like proposal writing and finding calls for art. The second hour we have industry professionals who have a lot of experience. Our industry professionals have included staff from The Art Institute of Chicago, directors of the Southside Community Arts Center, Curators of Eclectica Contemporary (Capetown), Nike Art Gallery (Lagos), Journalists, creative consultants, and gallerists from all over the country. I then partner with locations across Chicago for exhibitions of the participating artists. I also have an incredible team that works with me and helps install the artwork, facilitate performances, and select the artists. My team is artists who’ve participated in the residency previously and wanted to continue the work.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s definitely a struggle to finance the exhibitions and keep the program at no cost for artists except the application fee and for artists to retain the majority of sales. I also have Crohn’s disease so managing my own health can be a challenge. Additionally to the residency I have a full time job at the Art Institute of Chicago so time management is key. I’m also an artist so It is a lot to balance between my condition, working, and curating.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I grew up with a stability. This is a privilege that I greatly appreciate as an adult but I also marvel at its rarity to grow up in that way. My upbringing was stable financially, educationally. My parents have been married 34 years. My upcoming solo show ‘Authentic’ is a show that proves authenticity is natural when I chose to be educated for persona l fulfillment over survival.
Often times the price of education is survival. People pick an choose whether to pursue education based on its ability to afford a desired living standard. However learning to survive can mean sacrificing ancestral and personal histories by selecting information that prioritizes sustenance.
These days we have to ask what is authenticity? Authenticity is being dissected and simplified into reels and tiktoks. In my work the detail in the backgrounds represent the layers of complexity of knowledge, experience, and circumstance, My work constantly reaffirms to be black and authentic is a multifaceted story and always has been.
I am both in love with culturally, academically, or historically significant figures. I do not see these people as distinct from me. I see them as composites of my own identity. Lessons I’ve learned from them have sustained and furthered my own personal growth. I also look to photographers who capture anonymous or every day people. These are key subjects as well because without the struggles and triumphs of every day people. The leaders I represent would not have been called to do the work they are remembered for.
Every artist has an element of their method that is natural and instinctive with little understanding of why they are gifted in this way. For me it’s my use of color. I have been around art since I was four years old. From my mother’s red lipstick to my father’s detailed Italian ties color and pattern have been in my environment my whole life and is therefore reflected in my style. Also many artists focus on realistic looking color combinations I dare to ask ‘what if?’ with my color use
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
To keep going and discipline my mind. It’s very important to ne to understand how to remain kind positive and uplifted when I’m going through a lot. It’s one of the most underrated but valuable skills. It’s so Important to not be defeated. The difference between myself and other curators/ artists is not skill set. It is recovery time things can be really difficult but I am able to focus on what is going right not what is going wrong
Contact Info:
- Website: https://holliedavisart.com
- Instagram: @holliedavisart
