Holland B. Cunningham was born in Roanoke, Virginia, and was educated at the University of Virginia where she studied art history and studio art. After graduation, she moved to New York City where she worked in the advertising industry. She married in 1993, has three children, and began painting full time after the birth of her third child.

Inspired by the landscapes of Quogue, New York, and rural Virginia, her work reflects the natural beauty of these extraordinary places. Prevalent in her paintings and pastels is a sensitivity to the merger of land and sky and sea. She blends the three deftly in her oil paintings, sometimes rendering the continental edge with thick brushstrokes that imply its magnitude, and sometimes with finer strokes-the width of beach grass-that illuminate its delicacy. The variation is appropriate for a subject whose elements are known for being unpredictable. Her still lifes and interiors also reflect a respect for her surroundings, instilling transcendent qualities into everyday objects through careful attention and artful detail.

She paints in the plein air tradition as often as possible but also works in her New York studio using watercolor studies, found images and photographs.

Education

2003-Present

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ART, New York, NY
School of Fine Arts
Oil Painting with Cornelia Foss
Watercolor studies with Reeve Schley
Pastel workshop with Wolf Kahn

August 2005

THE PARRISH ART MUSEUM, Southampton, NY
Plein Air Painting Workshop

1990-1996

ART STUDENTS LEAGUE OF NEW YORK, New York, NY
Watercolor studies with Dale Meyers

1985-1989

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, Charlottesville, VA
Bachelor of Arts in Art History

Select Exhibits

Present

SMI ART GALLERY, Greenwich, CN
Exhibit and sale featuring recent work

Nov. 2005

QUOGUE ART GALLERY, Quogue, NY
Solo show of paintings, pastels, and watercolors

2004/2006

QUOGUE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Quogue, NY
Summer Art Show and Sale.

2004

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN, New York, NY
Various group student shows

2003

JONES, CLARK & CO., New York, NY
Group Show Exhibition of paintings

1992-1997

THE ART STUDENTS LEAGUE OF NEW YORK, New York, NY
Various group student shows

1989

BAYLY ART MUSEUM, University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA
Group Show