I always appreciate when one of ArtBeat’s feature artists shares with us someone they collect or admire artistically, as is the case with Holley Bakich who lives and works in Tucson with her astronomer husband. She has fine art degrees and an impressive resume in multiple artistic fields. Studiously self-taught on much of her repertoire by watching grandma sew quilts or visually ingesting Native American bead work while supporting herself with a post-university job guarding important museum artifacts, nothing seems to escape Holley’s artistic eye. Even later memorizing mosaic shading techniques on a vacation to Italy, what truly reaches out to her viewers is her thirst for interpreting the narratives behind the legends, as well as unlocking divinely human concepts through color energy, symbols and storytelling.

It is this uniquely human activity of telling stories that pulls the threads of Holley’s art together, her insatiable curiosity and appetite for diving into the deep ‘whys’ of these human notions light the fires of her creativity. Captivated by what different world cultures have invented around their hearths, Holley has sought to encapsulate it all with a childlike devotion to her calling. Her fine art is, as she describes on her artist bio, meant to last and be loved for a long, long time.

The heirloom quality of her beading and leatherwork, along with the quantity of time and materials she puts into her art, make each piece a true statement of lasting beauty. Holley says that each beaded piece can take up to 160 hours to accomplish, not including research, preparation or framing. “If I could do the beading as a fulltime job, they would take a month and a half,” she says. Below is the artist as a guest speaker explaining more of her artistic connection to storytelling, some of her inspiring moments and how it all comes together:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yqxXFyTly1Yz3g4eCH6rWfae5MdJ1NIo/view?usp=drive_link

The less-than-mundane background of our lives is revealed when we see things through the eyes of Holley Bakich. Saying that she uses ‘mixed media’ doesn’t even begin to cover the raw materials Holley will employee to craft her art pieces. Sewing and embroidery, textiles, metal, leather, wood, clay, paint, iridescent sequins and beads top the list. Real personality infuses everything and we can feel the character entwined in the subject matters, animal, human or otherwise. The current notions to fuel her creative firing pins are the Seven Deadly Sins, where Holley has fabricated visual shrines to anecdotal blends of religious epochs and forces upon our fates.

“All of the sins are associated with animals in Christian lore.” Holley states. “I thought that would be a good starting place, but these contain symbols from many religions. They are a huge amalgamation of symbols in one piece. On the back of each box, I write down all the elements because I will think, ‘Now, why did I put that in there?’ I read so much.”

There is no end to the potential inspiration for this avid traveler, reader and observer. Her imagination was taken over by the myth of Aztec creation goddess Coatlicue (feature image, 18″x24″ framed beaded velvet, 2021), and now Holley has completed several more portraits of divine characters in their local snake and multi-symbol forms. She explains that these images, “celebrate female creators since patriarchy has largely replaced them,” and anticipates that the series can go on for a while since there are many primordial goddesses to portray.

Holley’s interest in the history of carnival sideshows, and the real people therein, led her to begin building museum quality Sideshow models in such incredible hand-sewn, wood turned with brightly painted details characterizing the amazing stories behind these ‘freaks’ of yesteryear. It is all at once playful and touchingly rendered. With her art, she focuses on this foregone entertainment peculiarity from a hundred years ago with humble curiosity, each piece having a small biography attached as part of her visual documentation.

Same with her Chinese Zodiac and Fantastic Creatures series in which she has fabricated each figure based on popular culture phenomenon – a modern tabloid newspaper, an ancient mythological tale or a questionable account of what makes the eerie swamp noises – like a comic book rendered in three dimensions. For instance, we have all seen the calendar placemat menus at many Chinese restaurants, yes, but does anyone know how their zodiac came to be? Holley will explain it all to us in silky detail with her toy-like pieces, but surely these 12 sculptures are not playthings. They are hours of planning, of pattern making, frame building and costuming, something that in my house growing up would have certainly been a, “Don’t touch!”

To see some of Holley’s creations live, find her at the novel mobile art exhibit experience Box Truck Gallery, “brainchild my friend Brenda Schweder,” wherever the street scene is happening. She also has a great online presence and is available by appointment for consultations or commissions. If you have an idea, she can translate it into a masterpiece (digital or otherwise) you will treasure forever.

Find out more on Instagram @holleybak LinkedIn HolleyBak@gmail.com

ArtBeat Magazine extends a huge Thank You to Holley for participating and providing images, so many to enjoy, we know they are even better in person.