JOY!
My name, Gail, means joy, and brightening the world and sharing the joy in my heart with your heart is my desire for the things I create. Most of the work shown here is done with paste paper, which I often refer to as finger paint for grown-ups! Making paste paper is playful, creative, and that playfulness is part of my work. Who doesn't want to play like a child without any remorse or repression?
My work is often influenced by Biblical themes and my belief in the grace and complete love of the Divine Creator. If we are made in the creator’s image, then we are all creators too. What a remarkable idea; create something yourself today. Experience the joy!
Gail Hollinger
"My Father's House" Encaustic paste paper collage: 2024 (sold)
About HANDBLARNEY STUDIO
When I was a girl, growing up in northern New Jersey, there were mansions in our community, built as summer homes by wealthy New Yorkers at the turn of the last century. I longed for a place of my own to make art and would fantasize about sneaking into one of these houses and making a studio in their attic. The houses were so big they would never know I was there! Now, at last, I have the space I dreamed of, in the converted attic of our old house here in Wayland Michigan. If you go by and see the lights on up there, you know I'm happily making some kind of a mess.
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I've been using the name Handblarney for over fifty years. Blarney is the gift of using language creatively. Handblarney is the gift of using hands creatively. May you be blessed with this gift.
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