Red Lodge Clay Center – Short-Term Resident (ASPN) 2021
Holly Barrett is currently pursuing a BFA in Studio Art from Ohio University, with concentrations in Ceramics and Painting & Drawing. Barrett has exhibited in a range of galleries including Cube 4, Station 116, and the Ohio University Art Gallery. She curated her Solo Exhibition, Influenced, in the Fall of 2019 at Station 116 Gallery.
Barrett is currently a member of the National Council on the Education of Ceramic Art (NCECA), and holds Officer positions in two arts-related Ohio University Student Organizations: she has served as Treasurer and President of the OU Ceramics Club, and as President of the Undergraduate Art League. Accolades include the Provost Undergraduate Research Fund, the OHIO Achievement Scholar Award, the OHIO Distinction Award, and the Fine Arts Special Talent Award. Barrett worked for Tom Bartel in the Spring of 2020, and was selected to work for Brad Schwieger, Fall 2020 to Spring 2021.
Barrett’s own practice consists of a combination of Ceramics and Drawing, in which wheel-thrown surfaces act as a canvas for her illustrations. Her body of work emphasizes themes of memory, identity, and story-telling.
As individuals, we are each the sum of many parts. It is this kind of multifaceted human nature, in which personalities are pieced together from a range of experiences, that drives my work. To what extent do we have ownership over the people we become?
Personality dictates how we interpret experiences, and in turn, the combination of various factors affects our personality. Control becomes a constant struggle and we are left to illustrate our lives with traumas, travels, stories, and traditions.
I am addressing my own interpretations of stories I have read growing up, places I have lived or traveled, and my own series of crises. I emphasize the continuous and non-linear nature of how people and stories not only develop over time, but are perceived. We need to give ourselves the right tools, or the right mindset, with which to perceive and analyze our memories, influences, and circumstances.