STUDIO F
Hollis Sigler 1990
STUDIO F


20th Anniversary of Studio F Born in Gary, Indiana, Sigler earned a B.F.A. degree from Moore College of Art. Three years later, she received an M.F.A. degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and began to take her place in Chicago's art scene during a period when artists in that city, as well as in Los Angeles and San Francisco, were questioning New York's cultural hegemony. Familiar with Chicago's Hairy Who group-with its emphasis on cartoons and other low-art imagery-as well as the whimsical art of Florine Stettheimer, Sigler found sympathetic and quirky precedents for her own burgeoning, idiosyncratic approach.

For a large portion of her professional art career, Hollis Sigler's paintings have revolved around a central theme -- an imagined heroine -- a female persona simply called The Lady. Although Sigler rarely depicts The Lady in anything as silhouette form, the figure's surroundings give her a purpose, statement and belonging. The Lady's works, as well as the painting's rich symbolism, provides an intimate glimpse into a vivid interior life with a subtle sense of apprehension. In most of her work, Sigler combines emotional content with high color, patterning and a casual draftsmanship that have become readily identifiable with a neo-naive style.

Sigler's works are in collections throughout the country including the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, the Seattle Museum of Art, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, The Madison Art Center in Wisconsin and the University of South Florida.

While at STUDIO-f in September1990, Sigler produced an elite number of monotypes. The subject matter of her monoprints was derived from her day-to-day encounters in the immediate environment in Tampa. The monotypes evoke a sense of aloneness mixed with exuberance.

From 1985 onward, she focused on the complex issues surrounding breast cancer – it's incident rates, causes, and treatments: it's fears, rages, and uncertainties. A long-term survivor of the disease to which her mother and grandmother had succumbed Sigler lost her long battle with cancer and died in 2001.

Studio F