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In her mezzotints and paintings California artist Holly Downing explores the creation and transformation of form through light and shadow. She carefully studies ordinary objects and buildings, observing how the play of light and shadow reveal interesting shapes. Downing regularly finds compelling images in the mundane and seemingly immutable.
In making her mezzotints, Holly Downing enjoys the meditative quality of rocking and burnishing a plate to create an image. “Using only the pressure of my hand on the scraping tool, I can imbue simple still life objects - drapery, tools, a shell - with a reserved strength and beauty that I obtain in no other medium.”
Holly Downing studied printmaking at the Royal College of Art in London. Her mezzotints and paintings have been exhibited throughout California. In 2004 she was elected to the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, London, U.K; and she recently returned from a residency in Italy. Her work can be found in many prominent public collections including the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK; Scottish National Gallery of Art, Edinburgh, Scotland; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; Chiba Art Museum, Chiba, Japan; Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, San Francisco, California; and the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. She currently teaches at the Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, California.
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