PULLMAN, Wash. — Nationally known sculptor Doug Hollis will present an
overview of his past work in an April 6 lecture at Washington State University.
The 7:30 p.m. talk is sponsored by the WSU Museum of Art as part of its
spring 2000 “Redefining Landscape” lecture series. The talk will be held in the
Fine Arts Auditorium.
The free lecture and a dedication ceremony for his sculpture “Persona” were
originally scheduled for March 23. The dedication ceremony has also been
rescheduled, and will take place at 4 p.m. April 7 at the sculpture site.
Hollis is best known for his wind- and water- activated sound sculptures.
Many of his pieces have been publicly selected, site-specific works such as
“Persona,” which was commissioned by the WSU Campus Arts Committee
through the Washington State Arts Commission’s Art in Public Places
program. Some of his other recent public artworks include “Mountain Mirage”
at the Denver airport and “Watersongs,” commissioned for the U.S. Geological
Survey in Menlo Park, Calif.
Hollis was born in Ann Arbor, Mich. He received a bachelor’s degree in fine
arts from the University of Michigan. He credits his interest in Native
American culture and the time he spent visiting and living with Native
American families in his youth as having a strong influence on his life and his
art.
In the late 1960s, he began working with natural phenomena and responsive
environmental structures. His collaborations with musicians, dancers, film
makers, engineers and physicists resulted in projects such as the
performance/installation “Laser, Sound and Air” at the Cranbrook Museum in
Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Hollis began his current work with wind- and water- activated sound in the
1970s. These early works include his development of the first “Aeolian Harp”
for the San Francisco Exploratorium in 1975-76.
In 1983, Hollis worked with four other artists in the creation of “A Sound
Garden,” a 2000-foot shoreline walk commissioned for the National
Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle. He frequently
works with other artists, landscape architects and architects on projects such
as “Tidal Park” in Port Townsend and “A Garden of Voices,” a collaboration
with artist Richard Turner, for Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park.
“These and other projects are indicative of my growing involvement with
public art and with making places which have an oasis-like quality, where
people can pause to catch their spiritual breath in the midst of their everyday
lives,” Hollis said.
The Hollis lecture is the last event of the museum’s spring lecture series,
“Redefining Landscape.”
Funding for museum exhibitions and programs is provided by WSU, the
Friends of the Museum of Art and private donors. A portion of the museum’s
general operating funds for the fiscal year has been provided through a grant
from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency providing
general operating support to the nation’s museums. Additional support has
been provided by the Kenneth and Marleen Alhadeff Foundation; the Delta
Air Lines Foundation; the Washington State Arts Commission; the National
Endowment for the Arts; the WSU Visual, Performing and Literary Arts
Committee; the Pullman Kiwanis Club; Tri-State Distributors; and private
donors.
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