Education
1988-1993 - BFA - Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio
2001 - Vermont Studio Center - month residency program Johnson, Vt
2002 - Scottsdale Artist School - Milt Kobayashi Instructor
2002 - Scottsdale Artist School - Peggy Kroll-Roberts Instructor
Galleries
Showcase Fine Art - Dubai - http://www.showcaseuae.com
One Off Fine Art Gallery - Nairobi, Kenya - http://www.oneoffafrica.com
Out of Africa Contemporary Art Gallery - Barcelona , Spain - http://outofafricagallery.com/en/home
Shows
2017 One Off Fine Art Gallery "Nudes" - Group Show - - Nairobi
2017 One Off Fine Art Gallery -"Nudes II" - Group Show - Nairobi
2017 One Off Fine Art Gallery "Kenyan Atmosphere" - Solo Show - Nairobi
2016 Hardware Gallery - "Home" - Vashon, Wa
2015 Showcase Gallery - Solo - "Portraits of the Middle Way" - Dubai
2013 Blue Heron Group Show “Elders” - Vashon, Wa
2013 Solo Show Hardware Gallery “World of Women”- Vashon - Wa
2012 Blue Heron Gallery - Commissioned Artist - Gala Fundraiser - Wa
2012 Children of OFK - Serenade Gallery, Addis Ababa - Ethiopia
2011 “Forgetting Haiti” Show - Blue Heron Gallery- Wa
2011 Blue Heron Gallery Group Show - Wa
2010 Utah Museum of Fine Art - Gala Invitational Group Show, SLC, Ut
2010 Salt Lake City Library Gallery - African Vialet - Solo Show, SLC, Ut
2010 Art Access Gallery - Our Father’s Kitchen - Solo Show, SLC, Ut
2009 Thomas Gilcrease Museum Invitational - Tulsa, Ok
2009 Turchin Fine Art Center – Appalachian State University – Solo Show, Boone, NC
2008 Utah Museum of Fine Art – Monet to Picasso Gala – Group Show – SLC, Ut
2008 Phoenix Gallery – “View of Malawi” – Solo Show, Park City, Ut
2008Four Seasons – Paintings of Malawi – Solo Show, Lilongwe, Malawi
2007 UVSC Woodbury Museum Invitational – “Art of Life” Group Show Provo, Ut
2007 Thomas Gilcrease Museum Invitational – Tulsa, Ok
2007 Phoenix Gallery – “Lyrical Nature” – Utah Symphony Featured Artist Show –Park City, Ut
2007 Art Access Gallery – “Women’s Contour” Group Show - Salt Lake City, Ut
2007 Art Access Gallery – Invitational “Plates” Show – Salt Lake City, Ut
2006 Patrick Moore Gallery – “Terrain” Show– Landscape Show Salt Lake City, Ut
2006 Phoenix Gallery – “GentleMen” Show – Solo –Park City, Ut
2006 Springville Art Museum – Spring Salon Group Show – Springville, Ut
2006 Art Access Annual - Group Show – Invitational – Salt Lake City, Ut
2006 Museum Of Fine Art “Family Experience” – Group Show FSU Tallahassee, Fl
2006 Women’s Art Center – Solo Show – Salt Lake City, Ut
2005 Juried Solo Show -Art Access Gallery Salt Lake City, Ut
2004 Women’s Art Center – Group Show – Salt Lake City, Ut
2004 American Assoc of University Women – Utah Women’s Artists Exhibition
2004 Thomas Gilcrease Museum Invitational – Tulsa, OK
2004 UVSC Woodbury Museum – Women’s Show – Provo, Ut
2004 Provo Art Festival – Group Show – Provo, Ut
2004 Artspace Forum Gallery Solo Show – Salt Lake City, Ut
2004 Best and Brightest Scottsdale Artist School Alumni Juried Show- Scottsdale, Az
2003 Maryland Federation of Art Circle Gallery - Group Show - Annapolis, MD
2003 35x35 Art Space Forum - Group Show - Salt Lake City, Ut
2002 Thomas Gilcrease Museum Invitational Competition - juried show - Tulsa, OK
2002 Old Town Gallery - Featured Artist Show- Park City, Ut
2002 Chroma Gallery - Group Show - Salt Lake City, Ut
2002 “Faces V” - Period Gallery juried show - two pieces - Omaha, NE
2002 Portraiture Show - Loge Gallery - Salt Lake City, Ut
2000 “Colors of Sainte Terre” Show - Park City, Ut
1999 Kimball Art Center Group Show - Park City, Ut
Awards
2007 City Weekly – Best Painter in Utah
2006 Springville Museum of Art Spring Salon – Third Place – Springville, Ut
2004 American Assoc of University Women - Utah Women Artist Exhibition Best of Show
2004 UVSC Woodbury Museum – Women’s Show –First Place and Honorable Mention
2002 Scottsdale Artist School - Full Merit Scholarship - Scottsdale, AZ
2002 “Art of the Parks” Competition Top Two Hundred Show - Jackson, WY
2000 Vermont Studio Center Merit Scholarship - Johnson, VT
1999 Kimball Art Center Honorable Mention Award - Park City, Ut
Artist Statement – Olivia Pendergast
The paintings that I create are a direct reflection of the experience I am having. I simply see something that creates movement, stirs something that feels like California Poppy orange or a particular note in a song that brings forth tears of recognition. A giddiness rises in the chest and a “yes” that is curious about a mother holding her child to her chest, or the way light comes through a blackberry bramble.
By being present I am aware of hundreds of times a day when this movement occurs and as a way to express the excitement, I am moved to paint.
If someone gleans something from that it is of their own accord, through their own precious movement.
There is a feeling that arises when I see line being used in art. It seems to try to define what cannot be defined, what could never be truly known. The same thing seems to happen when negative space is used to try to define something in a painting. What is it that I think I want to know? Form? Weight? Size? How much definition do I need? Or is it the “attempt” to define something, that really creates all the hubbub that makes me sit and stare at a Robert Motherwell, perched on the edge of tears, for 45 minutes?
There is not any attempt to charade the work that I create. It is a process, an unfolding that I cannot even understand or take credit for. The gesso goes down, then the under-painting, then the line through pencil and scratches, and then the painting. This is how it works, how it is created and there is nothing to glaze over and create the illusion that I “know” what I am doing.
Biography - Olivia Pendergast
Olivia attended Columbus College of Art and Design’s five-year BFA program where she majored in Illustration but took every Fine Art course that could be squeezed into her semester’s tuition. After working for five years in the LA film industry as a conceptual designer, the pull to create her own work through the means of painting was too much to resist. She cut up her credit cards and moved to a cabin in the mountains of Utah to paint, full-time.
In 2007, Olivia, formally known as “Holly Mae”, moved to Seattle to pursue her creative endeavors in the Pacific Northwest. In 2008 she travelled for her first time to Africa and lived in Malawi while painting the amazing people. She also travelled to Haiti and Bangladesh before leaving the States to live full-time in Kenya in 2016. She currently resides internationally with her daughter and is she is a full-time artist/Mother.