Calling Hollie Chantiles a painter is like calling "No Regrets" by Aesop Rock a
Hip-hop song, but unless you're familiar with Aesop Rock that analogy won't make
any sense. So what is a painter? Is putting a brush to wood painting? Does
formal training define a painter? When we consider those two criteria she is
only half a painter. Hollie formally studied illustration, drawing and
anthropology (among other things) at Maryland Institute, College of Art; but
never studied painting. Training has little to do with Hollies passion; after
graduation, while having difficulty finding her niche, she picked up the acrylic
paints her mother had around the house and fell in love.
Hollie is more than a painter and to her painting is much more than putting
brush to wood. For Hollie art, in all its manifestations, is about finding the
majestic in the simplistic. It's about finding and embracing the beauty of a
teacup, the petals of a spring iris or the wings of a honeybee and turning it
into something the rest of us can understand. Hollie sees the exceptional in the
everyday and through her art, her galleries and her community endeavors
constantly strives to share her unique perspective with you.
Perhaps Hollies fascination with, and the joy she finds in the natural and
manmade world around her is best explained by one of her most treasured quotes
from Edna St. Vincent Millay in an unfinished poem.
"As sharp as in my childhood, still Ecstasy shocks me fixed."
