installation artist | Hollis Hildebrand-Mills

Day Forty-Two/Image Forty-Two

“Afloat” Image. Ceres Gallery. New York. Solo Show.

Ah, black slips! My grandmother liked to get dressed up, make-up, hair (naturally dark, down to her waist, up in a bun.) Earrings. She was considered bohemian because she was a concert organist and pianist. And she loved hanging out in her black slip.

She played for silent movies when she was twelve. And later in her life, she played piano in the saloons of her native Montana. She played for drinks, which she hid at her feet. (She brought lidded jelly glasses from home and she would pour the drinks into them after “last call.”)

My grandmother would come to visit us when we lived in Pennsylvania and Connecticut, staying a month at a time. She’s sit around all dressed up, makeup and hair in place, jewelry too and would remain in her black slip all day. Playing cards and greeting our neighbors.

When she went back home to Montana, I heard she even mowed her lawn in her black slip.

Day Twenty-Seven/Image Twenty-Seven

“Afloat” Image. Ceres Gallery. New York. Solo Show.

Artist groups. Ah yes. Well, we are artists. We work alone, by ourselves, yet we come together to form a group. It is required that we do this. To become a part of the community and be a part of the building where we have our individual studios. The very thing that makes us separate and able to do our artwork is temporarily ditched when we unite to make decisions as a team. But the latter, I think we do very well. I think our personalities mesh. And I am grateful to be a part of this organization.

The group I am talking about is called The Euclid Arts Collective. I have served on its board many times, designed its invitation to its Holiday Sale many times, done publicity for the tours. Even escorted members of the High Museum’s Art Partners into my studio explaining the work I do until I have no breath left. We all do this. It is part of being a member. This counter intuitive idea of an artist being a part of a group is a paradigm of how art is supposed to find a purpose in the marketplace, be understood, loved, respected and absorbed into the culture. Not always does it work, but it tries.