Hollis Hammonds
wasteland, 2019, installation at Northern Kentucky University, Mixed media, 7.5 x 25 x 8 ft.
Describe your artistic style in three words.
Questioning, chaotic, environmental.
What's inspiring you right now?
Lately I've moved away from my solo art practice and have been collaborating with other artists, photographers, and poets. Sasha West, a poet and professor at St. Edward's University, is a huge inspiration for me right now. Her poems explore dystopian narratives linked to climate change.
What do you do when you're feeling uninspired?
I can't say I've felt uninspired in a very long time. I just listen and look at what's happening today. There is an endless amount darkness and injustice in our world which reminds me of the importance of artists and their work, and my work. That belief keeps me inspired.
Tell us something unique about your process.
When exhibiting my work, I often create large temporary sculptural installations on site from scratch. Much of my work is created by scavenging for materials and objects in the locations and communities in which I'm exhibiting. Sometimes I don't even have a clear idea of what the piece will be until I reach the site and start driving around town, looking for discard piles and observing the locale. These installations take about 5-10 days to construct and are completely taken apart and recycled as much as possible after the run of the exhibit. I still make drawings and paintings in my studio, and have even started making more permanent sculptures, but I know that I get a different type of satisfaction from making the temporary installations.
What advice do you have for other artists?
I think all artists are expressing something true to them, some question or problem they want to solve, or some personal need they have to make something outside of themselves and their own thoughts. Being an academic I value content, context, research, and purpose, but as an artist I know that making is a very personal activity, and can be formed from any number of angles, truths, questions, or personal needs. My advice is to just make.
The Dark Forest, 2015, Charcoal, ink, and acrylic medium on canvas, 8 x 32 ft.
A Dark Wood, 2020 installation at Texas A&M University, College Station, mixed media (including recordings of Sasha West reading her poems "Ode to Fossil Fuel" and "How to Abandon Ship," 12 x 32 x 10 ft.
Domestic Brutality, 2019 installation at McColl Center for Art + Innovation, Mixed media, 9 x 21 x 2 ft.
Charlotte Riots #1 & #2, 2017, Chalk marker on painted panels, 3 x 6 ft.
Memory Shack, 2019 installation at Northern Kentucky University, 10 x 9 x 9 ft.
Fire Studies #1-3, 2019, Ink and watercolor on Yupo, 38 x 78 in.
A Dark Wood Grew Inside Me (featuring poems by Sasha West), 2020, Ink on Yupo, 57 x 75 in.
Hollis Hammonds is a multimedia artist whose work investigates social issues ranging from economic disparity and state violence to environmental degradation and man-made disasters. She is a Professor of Art and Chair of the Department of Visual Studies at St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX.