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Holly Meeker Rom

My watercolor paintings pay homage to two of my favorite painters, John Singer Sargent and Winslow Homer. They inspire me to paint directly from nature, with an exuberance of brushstroke and a keen interest in light. My motifs have always been the natural environment, whether it be the Long Island Sound where I grew up and currently live now, or the mountains of Utah where I learned to paint in watercolor. Boats, harbors, gardens, trees, houses, the beach and its shells have been my subject over the years. I enjoy amplifying the color I see in nature and editing out the non-essential. My watercolors have been called direct, fresh and lyrical.

My education has taken me many places. I earned a BA degree from Mills College in Oakland, CA. Later I received a Masters in Fine Art from American University in Washington, DC. I have exhibited nationally and won many awards. My work is in the collection of the New York University School of Medicine, The Osborne Home in Rye, NY, and in the homes of numerous private individuals as well as corporations.

"No artist demonstrates more effectively than Holly Meeker Rom how watercolor lends itself to capturing fleeting qualities of light and making immutable the chromatic magic that they wreak on natural surfaces. She employs the translucent freshness of aquarelle to evoke the play of light on trees and leaves and foliage with luminous washes of color that play off against the sparkling white of the bare paper…Yet her sure command of the medium enables her to convey its essence with the impressive abstract freedom that makes her paintings much more than literal interpretations of nature."

----Gallery & Studio April/May 2003

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

--2004 J.Pocker & Son, Bronxville, N.Y., Window Exhibit
--2004 Bistro LePic Gallery, Washington, DC, Nature’s Bounty
--2003 Pen and Brush, Inc., 16 East Tenth St. NY, NY, Transformations of Nature
--2000 Mamaroneck Artist Guild Gallery, Art of the Park, Larchmont, NY
--1998 Garden Educ. Center, Gardens and Estates, Greenwich, CT
--1993 The Manor Club, Pelham, N.Y.
--1992 Mamaroneck Artist Guild Gallery, Larchmont, N.Y.
--1990 Wainwright House, Inc., Rye, N.Y.
--1988 Mount Vernon College, Washington, D.C., and 1986

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND AWARDS

2004
--Real to Unreal, Hammond Museum, North Salem, NY, Katonah Museum Artists Assoc.
--Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club Annual at the National Arts Club, NY, NY, also 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1991, Catharine T. Ballantyne Memorial Award in Watermedia in 2004.
--The Contemporary Portrait, The Rye Arts Center, Rye, NY

2003
--Greenwich Arts Society Annual, Flinn Gallery, 1st Prize in Water Media, Juror: R. Lytle, Professor of Art, Yale University. Greenwich Arts Society Annual Spring Show, 2nd Prize in watercolor

2002
--Pen and Brush, Inc., Annual Graphics and Watercolor Exhibit, Elinor Dessen Mem. Award

2000
--Broome St. Gallery, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Member’s Exhibition, NY, NY, 2001, 2002, 03, 04
--The Stamford Museum, New Art Annual 2000.

1999
--Mamaroneck Artist Guild Gallery Active Awards Show, Juror: David Fox, 3rd prize in 2D
--Ten, Cecil County Arts Council, Elkton, Maryland.

1998
--New Rochelle Art Assoc. Annual Exhibition, 2nd Prize inWatercolor, Juror: R. Zuccarelli. 1997 - 3rd Prize in Watercolor, Juror: Sergei Hollerbach. 1995 – 1st Prize in Watercolor, Juror: Charles Reid.

1997
--Hammond Museum, Apres Monet: The Waterlily in Contemporary Art, North Salem, NY
--The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Employees Art Show, ’97, ’98, ‘99

1996
--Westchester County Medical Center, Macy Pavilion, Vistas and Visions, 3 artists
--Elaine Benson Gallery, This Land is My Land, Bridgehampton, L.I., NY
--Westchester Watercolor Workshop at Rye Arts Center, Rye, New York

1995
--Fantasy, Three Exhibitions Featuring Artists of Westchester County, Pace Univ.
--Greenwich Art Council Gallery, Watercolor: 3 Visions
--Bowery Gallery, NY, NY, National Competition July 7-26, Juror: Jane Freilicher

1992
--MAG Member's Juried Exhibition, Westchester Community College, First Prize in Watercolor
--Mamaroneck Artists Guild Juried Exhibition, Lever House, New York, N.Y.

1987
--The Art League Gallery, Alexandria, Virginia, and 1986

1983
--Three Person Show, Old Town Gallery, Park City, Utah

1980
--Springville Museum of Art, 59th National April Salon, Springville, Utah

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Senator Hillary Clinton, Washington, D.C., 2004
New York University School of Medicine, NY, NY, 2002
Metro Media Fiber Network, White Plains, NY, 2002
The Osborn Retirement Home, Rye, NY
Time Warner Collection, New York, New York, 1995.
General Clinical Research Center, New York University Medical Center, N.Y., N.Y., 1994.
IBM, Yorktown Heights, New York, 1990.
American Express Travelers Cheque Operations Center, Salt Lake City, Utah.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

--J. McCormack,”Holly Meeker Rom and Jean T. Kroeber: A Natural Simpatico,” Gallery & Studio, April/May 2003.
J.S.Eaton,” Drama and Diversity Enliven the CLWAC’s Members Exhibition,” Gallery & Studio, June/July/August 2002.
--Georgette Gouveia, "Water lily Canvases evoke Monet, Asia," Daily Item, Gannett Newspapers, "Lifestyle section, Aug.13, 1997
--Carey Lovelace, "Visions of the Outdoors," Newsday, May 31, 1996
--Cover Illustration, Mills Quarterly, Spring 2003, April 1995, Summer 1996, Winter’99- Oakland, CA.
--Cover Illustration, "Weekend Section,”The Washington Post, Oct. 11, 1985
--Robert Morgan, "On View," Gazette, Bethesda, Maryland, Oct. 23, 1991
--Richard P. Christenson, "A Difficult Delightful Medium," Deseret News, Weekend of June 6, 1981
--Rom, Holly, “Batik,” New Era, January/February 1980: 20-23.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

--The Hirshhorn Museum of Art, Washington, DC, Volunteer in Education, 2003-04
--The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Docent Volunteer for High School Tours, 1996-2005
--Board Member, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club 1999-2003 and 2004-07
--Gallery Committee, 1995-96, The Rye Arts Center
--Board Member and Programming Director at Mamaroneck Artist Guild Gallery 1994-96

SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS

-2002-2004: Seminar with Professor Robert Reed, Yale Univ. who is 2004 winner of CAA Award for Distinguished Teaching of Art
--2002 Art New England, Studied Watercolor with Patricia Tobacco Forrester.
--Workshops in Watercolor with Betty Lou Schlem, Frederick Wong, Charles Reid, Milford Zornes

EDUCATION

1986 M.F.A. Painting American University, Washington, DC
1980 Teaching Degree University of Utah
1971 B.A. Studio Art Mills College
1971 Exchange Rhode Island School of Design (Wintersession 1970, 1971)
1975 M.A. Art Educ California State Univ. Sacramento

TRAVEL

Russia, Finland, Switzerland, South Georgia Island near Antarctica, Argentina, England, France, Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkey, Tibet, Japan, China, Thailand, Galapagos Islands, South America and Belize.

CONTACT

4 Stanley Keyes Ct., Rye, NY 10580
914- 630-4540 home, 914-629-9421 studio
naturehmr@aol.com
www.paintingsdirect.com