CRESTVIEW — To some, the rich red canvas seems punctuated by an aluminum meteor that burst through the back of the painting and dribbled bits of metal when it hit.
To artist Peggy Hollingshead, the “meaning” behind the work was actually a matter of practicality.
“That painting was in my apartment in Tucson and the reason I made the hole was because the thermostat was in the middle of the wall,” she said. “I put a hole in the canvas to go around the thermostat.”
While assembling paintings for her exhibit at the Crestview Public Library, she simply added a wad of crumpled aluminum foil to fill the hole.
Hollingshead said her works almost always go through a metamorphosis before she decides they’re complete.
“It’s like, the paintings talk through me and just take on a life of their own,” she said. “I never know what they’re going to be like. Some paintings go through several phases before I say, ‘Wow, this is it.’
Hollingshead laughs when people try to read too much into her works.
“Once I was making a painting and I got mad and I picked up a sponge and just dripped the paint over it and it just came out like that,” she said. “Then this gentleman I knew who had a master's in art came in and raved about it. I just cracked up and finally told him it was mistake.”
Well, not really a mistake.
Hollingshead believes that creating her paintings is an extension of her deep faith. That God guides her hand when she’s using her gift of visual arts to share her faith with others.
“I let God work through me,” she said.
Sometimes, Hollingshead said, it takes a child to put things in proper perspective, and that includes analyzing abstract art like hers.
“When I was showing a painting at Northwood (Arts and Science Academy), one little girl was looking at it and looking at it,” Hollingshead said. “I asked her what she thought about it and she said, ‘You know, your paintings are like looking at the clouds. You can see anything you want.’
WANT TO GO?
WHAT:Exhibit featuring abstract paintings by Peggy Hollingshead
WHEN:November and December
WHERE:Crestview Public Library, 1445 Commerce Drive
Email News Bulletin Arts Editor Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 'I let God work through me' says local abstract artist