Artist Hollis Hammonds to Speak at Texas Tech

News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: Feb. 18, 2013
CONTACT: Lindsay Bradshaw, lindsay.bradshaw@ttu.edu
(806) 742-2136

Artist Hollis Hammonds to Speak at Texas Tech

Texas Tech University’s School of Art will host artist and educator Hollis Hammonds at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 18 in room B-01 of the Art Building.  She will discuss her own artwork.

A reception will follow the free lecture in the building’s Folio Gallery, where Hammonds’ artwork is on display until Feb. 24. The gallery features her unique drawing style, conveying her commentary on disaster and destruction in the world.

Hammonds’ art explores consumerist culture through modes of accumulation, hoarding and collecting.

“I’m mainly interested in documentation, and I am cataloging and archiving my life through drawings of memories, events, objects and the stories I know,” she said.

Ever since her family’s home was destroyed by a fire as a child, Hammonds has been fascinated with piles of rubber, as well as found or recovered objects. She collects artifacts, and recycles and preserves materials.

Additionally, storms and natural disasters pique her interest. Her most recent piece of work, “In Ruins,” illustrates imaginary piles of rubble, symbolizing the debris resulting from natural and man-made disasters.

“The devastation of recent natural disasters and the humanly unstoppable forces that created them both frighten and fascinate me,” Hammonds said. “Ironically, images of storms mappings, waves crashing and tornados twirling are often beautiful and mysteriously intriguing. I call it the Beautiful Monster Effect.”

Hammonds graduated with a bachelor’s in drawing from Northern Kentucky University in 1998, and received her master’s in painting and drawing from the University of Cincinnati in 2001. She is an associate professor of art and the director of the Fine Arts Exhibit Program at St. Edwards University.

Gallery hours are 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Sat. and noon – 4 p.m. Sun. The Art Building is located at 2802 18th St. (near the corner of 18th Street and Flint Avenue). On weekdays, paid parking is available on the fourth floor of the Flint Avenue Parking Facility. Parking is free on weekends.

The exhibitions, speakers and related programs at Landmark Arts and the Texas Tech University School of Art are made possible, in part by generous grants from the Helen Jones Foundation and The CH Foundation. Additional support comes from cultural activities fees administered through the College of Visual & Performing Arts.

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CONTACT: Carol Flueckiger, associate professor, School of Art, Texas Tech University, (806) 742-3825, or c.flueckiger@ttu.edu.