Holly Schroder and her visionary new club
Exhibit A’s completely captivated by the Art Club. Together, we hosted a gin + life drawing session at the Textile Lofts, Parnell in February 2021.
Holly is the artist-founder of the club. She majored in painting at Auckland University of Technology and holds a Graduate Diploma of Creative Technologies from the Media Design School.
Over a Seven and Five Exhibit A gin refresher, Sara asked Holly about her personal creative buzz.
I love the Art Club concept and vibe. What prompted it and who is embracing it?
Art Club was born out of the lockdowns. Many of my friends wanted to start painting and were asking how and where to start. It prompted me to reflect on some of the exercises and approaches that I use in my own practice that I could share with people. The blank canvas is a scary place so sometimes all we need is a bit of structure or prompts to get some momentum. I’m a big fan of the term “thinking through making”. So I started sending out exercises and prompts for people to try.
I’d also had the experience of running some painting workshops in collaboration with Veuve Clicquot back in 2019, so this gave me the confidence to go all-in with physical workshops. Art Club is now based at the Textile Lofts Members club in Parnell, a beautiful space and the perfect environment for Art Club.
There’s been a variety of people embracing the workshops. Many with cross-creative backgrounds like marketing, design, architecture, interior design, fashion, photography etc. My favourite people are the ones who get pulled along by their partners or friends, who (quite often) end up being the ones who get most into it.
Can everyone draw?
Yes, absolutely. It’s such an innate activity. We love drawing and mark-making when we’re children so why stop when we become adults?
Top 5 favourite artists or designers?
I think this changes every month, but these are some of my all-time favourites:
Cecily Brown
Julie Mehretu
France Lise Mcgurn
Le Corbusier
Brice Marden
And which one has the most influence on your practice ?
Cecily Brown’s work has had the most influence on the way I look at and think about art. The experience of her work is so intense and engaging; the way her subjects collide, weave together and interact in a dynamic way. I’ve experienced her work a couple of times in the flesh, and it’s addicting to look at as it unravels. You never have the same experience with one of her works, which is what I love most.
What’s the place you’d transport yourself to if money were no object and Covid didn’t exist?
The Palazzo Monti. It’s a cultural centre hosting an artist residency program in Brescia, Italy. I can’t imagine anything more extraordinary than spending three months of uninterrupted time, surrounded by other creatives, working on self-directed projects.
Best songs to be creative to?
I use sound a lot in my practice. I’ve been really interested in visualising sound – like what would this rhythm look like as a movement? In our Exhibit A x Art Club life drawing workshop we had the amazing Abeiku Eshun DJ for us. We started the workshop with an exercise called “free drawing to music”, where you just close your eyes and draw in response to the music and how you feel. It’s a great warm-up exercise and to become present in the moment.
Can you name a few things you love or that provide inspiration to you right now? Can be completely frivolous or expremely deep..
I’ve recently been going to some meditation and yoga workshops run by my friend Sarah Lindsay from SALA. One of the exercises we did during her workshop was ‘free movement to sound’, where you move your body to however you’re feeling, without making eye contact with anyone in the room. At first, I felt self-conscious, then by the end, I felt totally free and liberated. It has inspired me to do more free-drawing and free-writing. I think these types of exercises are so great for the mind, creativity and letting go of the limits we set for ourselves in our practice.
Anything else to share?
The Exhibit A x Art Club life drawing workshop would have to be one of the highlights of my year. It was such a beautiful collaboration and experience of the senses. We had such a wonderful group of people come along and I can’t wait to work together again on another event.
See more of Holly’s work at www.schroderholly.com