GollyBard

I have always been an artist as far as I can remember and I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I love to work with my hands. I really cannot remember a time when art was not a part of my life in some way. I think you must do what you love.

My work has gone through many visual transformations over the years and continues to evolve and change. I'm a bit of a hummingbird when it comes to image making and I am always brimming with new ideas. If only my hands could work faster! Certain things have remained constant: my obsession with patterns and the cycle of life. Looking back, there have been little seeds planted along the way that influenced the art I make today. Here are just a few:

One of my very first recollections is having taken a class called insect study in third grade. My teacher wore a bracelet made of amber which had a mosquito perfectly preserved inside of it. I think that galvanized my growing fascination with bugs, insects and the natural world along with frequent trips to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

I studied fashion illustration and life drawing at the Fashion Institute of Technology as part of their Saturday Live, pre-college program. I loved my weekend jaunts in the city, however my high school art teacher in her quiet, subtle way, made a great impression on me too. She was a traditional watercolor painter who always worked along with us. I can remember simply enjoying watching her paint. She really taught me to work with watercolor and I have loved the medium ever since.

I received my BFA from Syracuse University, where I studied the fine art of printmaking, papermaking, and book arts. Half alchemy and half art, I loved the repetition of process art and that has certainly remained with me, though I don't do as much printmaking these days. My studies included trips to the local zoological garden, SUNY Forestry School's taxidermy collection and Crouse Medical College, to study animal and human forms in life and in death. A summer abroad in Italy was a marvelous experience that fused together my love of the romantic, religious and scientific elements of art and nature.

My work is somewhat like a cabinet of curiosities. I'm influenced by natural history, botanicals, formal gardens, the seasons, color palettes and patterns, miniatures of the mughal court, books, fashion and people, and my cottage garden. Living in the Virginia countryside is slow living and it gives me the opportunity and time to explore ideas and learn new things. I take long walks through woods and fields, observe the tiny details in nature, raise monarch butterflies in summer, and I started a marvelous cutting garden, Twitten Garden. I especially love growing dahlias! Needless to say, all of these influences and experiences jumble together to shape my quirky imagery.

I hope you enjoy my collection of work. I am grateful for the opportunity to share it with you!

Visit me here for more snippets and tidbits,
shop updates and studio happenings:

website: www.gollybard.com
fabric and wallpaper: www.spoonflower.com/profiles/gollybard
social: www.facebook.com/gollybardart
style: www.pinterest.com/gollybard
instagram: @gollybard

p.s.
Once upon a time I was a Featured Seller on Etsy:
http://www.etsy.com/storque/spotlight/featured-seller-gollybard-12241/