We recently connected with Robyn Holl and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Robyn, thanks for joining us today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?
I painted with acrylic paint on cardboard during one of my Saturday art classes that I participated in as an extracurricular activity during high school. It was an image of pots & pans in chrome. The shines were realistic and convincing of the forms and shapes. I don’t remember where it was exhibited, but some how the public eye landed on it, and a woman named Kathy decided she must own it to hang it in her kitchen. I sold my cardboard painting for $75, I believe. That was my first ever painting sale, and I was elated. I drove the painting to her home and delivered it directly to her kitchen. Years later, maybe 25 years later, Kathy emailed me a picture of this painting, and said she had wondered what became of me and my art. She found my website and images online showing her my bold colorful paintings, and she was excited. She closed her email with, “keep those brushes going.” Staying in touch with buyers of my art has been a very real blessing. I sold my first large scale painting while living in Baltimore and had just completed a post-baccalaureate certificate at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art). It was a five foot six square painting, and it was on display for our final exhibition. A passer-by had a personal interaction in front of the building where it was on display, and reached out to me to purchase the painting. Somehow it had been that significant of an experience for him, that he needed to own it. We met for coffee to negotiate, which led to a painting delivery and sale. I stay in touch with this client to this day and even send him my art cards for the holiday season. It’s personal, sometimes, art sales.
Robyn, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I have been an artist since I was a young child. I knew in high school that I was going to pursue art in my life. I studied painting during my undergraduate studies and studio arts and painting again in graduate school. I knew that I needed to be true to my passion during these years of investing in my education. I didn’t study a field that was going to lead more directly to a socially acceptable career path such as teaching or history, even though I thought about it. This led to a variety of jobs such as coffee barista, Starbucks manager, grocery store manager, and on and on until I got closer to my career path with a job at a gallery, and a community arts center and then a non-profit arts center. Those years at the non-profit aligned with the years of the pandemic. I was living in Baltimore, and suddenly I had time to dedicate to the business of my art. I started a website, an LLC, registered for Art Fairs. Then, I found a fantastic opportunity to participate in an Artist in Residence program at Art Ovation Hotel in Sarasota, Florida. I traveled from Baltimore to Sarasota in May of 2021 with a car full of my art and a suitcase in the front seat. I was so excited. I hadn’t even taken vacation from work, I was going to work remotely and paint simultaneously. It went great! I even reached out to see if I could return in 2022, and they invited me back, absolutely. This year it was March, and guess what happened? There was a full-time position called Cultural Curator that opened up the same week I was there. The General Manager came out as I was packing up and talked to me about what they were looking for for a half an hour. He gave me his business card and said if I or anyone I knew was interested, to call him on his cell. About four days later in the cold state of Maryland, I called him. I was interested. And a month later I was moving to Sarasota and starting a new chapter of my life. Today, its two years that I am here living in Sarasota, working at Art Ovation and making my way as an Artist as well. I have participated in a number of group shows where I display my Abstract paintings, and I even returned to the Artist Studio for an Artist Residency at Art Ovation again in 2023, this time as both Curator and Artist. Today, I am featured at Creative Liberties gallery on 927 N Lime Ave with a nine foot wall. I will be on display until May 24 and have a closing reception on Friday May 17th at 6pm. My works display gestural energy, bright colors and dynamic movement. I paint in all sizes from two inches to eight feet. I live with my art, and one of the reasons I landed the exhibit at Creative Liberties is because I invited the co-founders Barbara and Elizabeth over to my house and studio for lunch and showed them how full my bedroom was of my art. They immediately came up with ideas for exhibits because they are fabulous human beings. So, now I am featured at Chaz 51 steakhouse and the aforementioned exhibit at Creative Liberties.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Radical honesty and the ability to share one’s truth through their art is my mission as it can be found in my art and the art of the artists I support during my role as Curator.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I was working at the HorseSpirit Arts Gallery in historic Ellicott City, Maryland and a series of major life events took place. On May 27, 2018 I was trapped on the third floor of the Gallery while a terrifying flood came raging down the main street of the town. This caused irreversible destruction and made an impact on my well being both in mental health and my career situation. Six days later on June 2, 2018, my then wife asked for a divorce. Suddenly I needed a new income producing job and a new place to live. My world was shattering before my eyes. With emotional support from friends, my aunt, and my network of co-workers I found a shared living situation. I started back up as a Barista at Starbucks and went on Job interviews everyday until on Friday afternoon I interviewed a a Real Estate Investing school for Marketing Director. I was an emotional wreck but I was back on my feet within a couple months. I painted then as though my life depended on it, and to be quite honest, it really did. I then participated in an exhibit of those works called the Art of Abstraction at the Columbia Art Center in Columbia, Maryland. Finally I moved out of the shared living situation and had my own apartment where I weathered the new life I was leading and the Pandemic too. This is when my art career really started to take root with the development of my website and LLC. It’s amazing what life’s curveballs throw our way and how adversity can create beautiful change.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://robynhollart.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robynhollart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robynhollart
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robyn-holl-a3440145
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/robynholl
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/robynskie1/videos?view_as=subscriber
- Other: https://www.legaleriste.com/en/robyn.holl.art
Image Credits
Headshot credit to Allan Mestel Photography.