By B&TF

When I say, “Laurel Holloman”, I’m sure many of her fans would immediately think of Tina Kennard, their favorite character and, by Laurel’s own admission, her favorite character so far, as well. However, Laurel will not be remembered only as an actress and the best on-screen acting partner of Jennifer Beals.

She has another passion in her life and it is painting. Laurel said it best, “my soul wants to paint. My ego acts.”

Laurel first revealed her passion for painting at L5 Convention in Blackpool when she said to us during the Meet&Greet that painting was her hobby. She said that she didn’t consider herself a professional artist but she likes to paint on big canvases and do a lot of abstract paintings because it’s an emotional type of thing for her. Laurel paints because she loves the way it feels and it also provides a release because she doesn’t have to concentrate on wearing right clothes or learning her lines as she does when she’s acting.

It turned out that painting is more than a hobby to Laurel. It is her passion because she loves “the challenge of painting whatever emotions are going on at the time and releasing them.”

We first became a little familiar with Laurel’s creations when she donated her sketch for Mt. Hood art auction for bark-out.org that was raising money to protect and restore Mt. Hood National Forest. Laurel’s sketch generated the biggest amount, $10,000, and perhaps it gave her an idea to have another auction to support some other worthy cause.

Laurel’s choice to donate paintings to support Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust (www.maasaitrust.org) was inspired by Edward Norton’s Maasai Marathon effort (www.maasaimarathon.com). For Miki Turner, Laurel’s best friend and Award-winning photojournalist, producer and writer, to support this cause was very personal because her father is a descendant of the Maasai tribe.

As the preparations for the auction began, Laurel posted this message on the website created especially to promote the MWCT auction (http://www.mwctlaurelholloman.com).

I’m thrilled to share some of my paintings with you and to be in the company of the talented Miki Turner, who has contributed some terrific photographs. This auction is to help support a great cause, The Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, and to also pay homage to Miki’s late father, a descendant of the Maasai tribe, who passed away last summer. All proceeds from this auction (100%) have been earmarked for the education of children and for health clinics.

We hope you find something you like, want to bid on, and own. If not, we also invite you to donate to the MWCT by going directly to their website at www.maasaitrust.org or thru my fundraising page at www.firstgiving.com/laurelhollomannet1 where you can leave a message. Thank you all for your support. Laurel

Laurel provided five of her amazing paintings and if you haven’t had a chance to see them, you can still visit the auction site for the pictures. Here’s short description that Laurel provided to explain her vision and her motivation for the paintings.

Loss of Identity in a Relationship: This painting explores the loss of identity in a marriage, partnership, motherhood or at any time in life when we are most lost. There’s something soul scraping about the pain it causes. It could be the subject’s loss, her partner’s loss, or both. The painting itself is a blend of styles and even loses itself at times. I didn’t use a subject like I have in the past (i.e. a photo or model). It would have then started with an identity. I feel completely numb when I see paintings that focus on a photo authenticity of its subject, although I respect the skill it takes. I want to walk through the door of the artists’ emotional life–which to me comes from their interpretation of the subject or their lack of subject–or better yet, I want the image to provoke emotion inside of me, to open a door into my own pain or joy. It’s the first painting I’ve shown in its process. I can’t say it makes me comfortable, and that may also be in the painting a bit.

Unconditional Blonde: When I first painted this it felt like a possible self-portrait. When I finished, it was so obvious it was about my mother. The images, to me, needed to be nude and slightly abstract, yet with movement to capture the emotion. My mother’s influence on me is quite enormous. I’ve watched her get her hands dirty with volunteering and charity causes my entire life. She has also taught me the value of affection. I really wanted this painting to capture the parent-child intimacy without putting a direct face on it because in my mind, it’s so visceral (sometimes words cannot describe it). It’s one of the reasons the baby image is reflective of a bear cub because I feel the nature of the intimacy is so animalistic.

Freedom to Love: The original painting was an emotional landscape that explored lust as a theme. It was more fiery and sensual, but lacked any imagery. It always felt unfinished to me. The painting is now more of a political statement for a lack of freedom and hypocrisy in both China and the U.S. What’s there? Maybe a skull, a woman, an American flag used as a blindfold, the Chinese symbol for freedom (distorted) and most obviously references to the Chinese flag. In some ways, for an abstract, it is quite literal and full of rage. It was hard not to soften this painting. It’s very out of my safety zone. It reminds me of an old beat-up Grateful Dead T-shirt I had in college, so it’s a bit “rock and roll”. I was inspired by some of my Chinese fans that have sent me heart-wrenching letters over the years, and the ones that traveled to London and Paris last year. So, I dedicate this to them. My father recently spent a month in China, and if it had worked out with my schedule, I would have loved to have gone with him.

The Redhead: This was the last painting I painted. My subject, a photograph, was sitting inside on the stairs. It was, at the beginning, an exploration of grief. I never intended the figure to be outside-it just grew that way. In fact, she was initially seen through a window. I painted her through the frame, but the window looked like a jail to me so I painted it out. Once she was outside it became more mystical.
“Loss of Identity” took almost three weeks and endless layers of paint. I wanted to do something lighter kind of Chagal-ish. My daughter insisted I add the moon because she looked so sad and the moon would cheer her up. I had to agree because sleeping under the moon and the stars is one of my favorite things to do.

Hidden Treasure: Like many of my paintings, this one has many layers. Sometimes I come in with too much emotion and I get rather impatient and then I get stuck. I guess you could say the painting has to dictate where I should go. In this case, I was painting a series of female nudes that was borderline pornography. The final image was so disturbing due to the position of the subject in the photograph and an intense amount of pubic hair. It just embarrassed me because I was going for something raw and it was painfully contrived. So I immersed the subjects’ genitalia in a watery grave. The gold was already in the painting. Put whatever value you want in that. I basically turned the landscape of her body part into a landscape of the bottom of the sea, which in turn reflects back to growth and birth. I love blue as a color, as it represents a male principle in painting. I find it calming and spiritual.

Miki Turner contributed 11 photographs from her trips to Africa. Miki left the following message on the auction website:

I am exceedingly thrilled that my friend and sister, Laurel Holloman, asked me to be a part of this effort to raise money for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust. In doing so, I pay tribute to my late father, William Turner, a descendant of the Maasai tribe; and I’m also honoring my own credo: to whom more is given, more is expected. Here’s hoping that you’ll see something you like and contribute generously to this worthy cause.

The auction was held for ten days and had a tremendous success. As a result, a grand total of $28672.46 was raised and it’s not even including the donations made to Laurel’s fundraising page at www.firstgiving.com/laurelhollomannet1 that raised another $8,235.00 so far.

The success of the auction brought more interest to Laurel’s paintings and she mentioned on her twitter that she will paint more because she had been offered two exhibitions, depending on her shooting schedule with the TeenNick show, “Gigantic”.

For everyone who participated in the auction or donated to fundraising page, those ten days in December were filled with excitement, expectations and the spirit of kindness, camaraderie and generosity. Laurel mentioned that she might do another auction in the future, so stay tuned for more news and announcements.