GUEST ARTISTS

Holly Fischer

When

October 1, 2021 – November 28, 2021

Where

City Market Artist Collective,

300 Blake St, Raleigh, NC 27601, USA

"My work explores paradoxes inherent in perceptions of femininity: beauty is both an admired asset and a mistrusted superficiality. I am inspired by the dangerous and alluring beauty of carnivorous plants and poisonous underwater creatures. These seductive and deadly forms readily become metaphors for our culture’s inherent mistrust of female empowerment and common fears regarding gender fluidity and overt sexuality.

My work challenges binary restrictions that create an artificial separation between feminine and masculine qualities. I seek to embrace dualities through the morphing of seemingly incongruous attributes to form new identities that are at once familiar and strange, mysterious and beguiling. I hope this subtle tension between viewer and object will encourage observers to question the nature of their fears and desires and contemplate assumptions regarding beauty, gender, and sexuality."

"Holly Fischer was born in Missoula, Montana, the first child of creative and resourceful parents cultivating their personal forms of artistic expression as part of the back-to-the-land movement of the 70s. Growing up with a skilled woodworker as a father and an accomplished fiber artist as a mother provided Fischer with the tools to foster her own creativity at a very young age. Art is a second language for Fischer; it is a conduit for self-discovery and a means for processing and conveying internal conflicts arising from pressure to conform to gender norms and culturally standardized concepts of beauty.

Holly Fischer is known for her abstracted figurative sculptures in white clay that celebrate voluptuous flesh and female empowerment. These works explore dualities inherent in femininity, encouraging a social engagement with gender politics by questioning stereotypes and challenging the traditionally assumed structure of the gaze. Fischer has a vigorous studio practice and a full exhibition schedule. She enjoys investigating a variety of processes and materials, though her primary love is for ceramics. Fischer received her MFA in Studio Art, University of Texas at Austin, and a BA in Studio Art, Summa Cum Laude, Meredith College, Raleigh, NC. Fischer is an Assistant Professor of Studio Art and the Coordinator of the Ceramics Studio at Meredith College. She is a passionate mentor and derives great joy from the opportunity to help emerging artists discover their own creative voice."