BIO + STATEMENT
Holly Tharnish lives and works in Omaha, Nebraska. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Nebraska-Omaha with a minor in art history in 2019. She attended UNO with a Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation Scholarship. During her time at UNO, she was featured in multiple student exhibitions, earned a Bertha Mengedoht Hatz Memorial Scholarship for Artistic Excellence as well as a Wanda Ewing Memorial Scholarship. She was the Vice President of the UNO Art Club and curated student exhibitions for the organization. In 2018, Holly helped create Benson's Oceanside Mural near the intersection of Maple and 63rd streets. Holly's first solo exhibition at the Florence Mill Museum and Art-Loft Gallery commenced in September 2019 as the year's recipient of the Conner Meigs Art Award. The show focused on her own self-realization within the scope of her vast family history. Holly has been a member artist at the Artists' Cooperative Gallery in Omaha's Downtown Old Market since 2021, sitting on the Board since 2022. There, she has organized several exhibitions showcasing artwork by Omaha-area college students, as well as leading the curation of ACG's 2024 Emerging Artists Exhibition. She is also an exhibiting artist at MoonRise Gallery in Elkhorn, Nebraska.
Artist Statement
I am constantly inspired by folktales and storybooks, anecdotes passed down through generations, old photographs, historical imagery, and, most of all, my own memories. When encountering stories, I am struck by the way ancestral and historical details and figures mirror those I recognize in my own life. Whether I am working in oil paint, watercolor, graphite drawings, or any other medium, these concepts are at the forefront of my mind. Drawing upon these sources in tandem with my own memories and emotions allows me to approach subjects such as heritage, introspection, identity, womanhood, and the contrasts between the world we live in, the stories we tell, and the narratives we keep inside our minds.
I view many of my most recent paintings as visual diaries wherein I study my past, present, and inner workings, while both expressing and examining my existence within my surroundings. In essence, I paint my world. Often, I employ the medium of poetry to aid in the process of reconciling information, lists, and thought fragments. Many of these images stray into surrealism as I create imagined spaces and circumstances based on my own personal experiences, dreams, and imaginings. These works fall into an ongoing collection I call “Open Seams”.
