Paint locally, collaborate globally – Tribune · September 27, 2008

For the past two years, Pacha Hornaday has given out prepainted canvases of different sizes to artists locally and around the globe with an expectation that they be returned painted with fresh artwork.

Pacha, who is known in the art community by her first name, recommended a color or theme. The rest was left up to each artist’s creative vision. Over the past few months, she has gathered the finished work, which includes watercolor, oil, pen and ink and other methods.
Today, Pacha will have all of the nearly 70 canvases back and displayed in one large mosaic as part of the first Holonic Art Movement at CorkStop Studios in Arroyo Grande. The event includes the work of 68 artists.

When she launched the idea, Pacha hoped it would strengthen the local art community and bring artists together to inspire and challenge one another. The idea grew in popularity and extended beyond the Central Coast to include work from artists in Peru, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom and Canada. The artwork will be for sale, with pieces ranging from $100 to $1,000. Proceeds will be split between funding the next holonic movement event and benefiting Sonrisa, a Colombian charity that helps provide school supplies for poor children.

The idea that artists paint over used canvases was difficult for some, said San Luis Obispo artist Anne Stahl, who was born in Germany. “Some of the artists were scared of (painting over) and wanted to honor the art already there,” she said. But the creative element of painting over existing work helped others who can find themselves uneasy staring at a blank canvas, said Carol Paquet, a local artist and founder of CorkStop Studios.

The event is held at Cork- Stop, where three local artists regularly ply their trade. “It’s also where the art is made. This is a working space, and we wanted people to feel that—unlike at a (traditional) gallery,” Paquet said.

Pacha is looking to extend the holonic movement to local schools, to allow students to create their own artwork that would later be combined into a large mosaic that can be exhibited in the community. The free event “is all about collaboration,” she said. “We want to bring the community closer to the art that is out there.”

Individual Unity – SLO City News · September 25, 2008 – October 1, 2008 · by T

“Holonic Art Exhibition,” the product of a global art movement integrating more than 20 pieces by 60 artists, will take over CorkStop Studios in Arroyo Grande on September 27.
The term holon, coined by Jewish-Hungarian author Arthur Koestler, refers to an entity that is itself a whole and simultaneously a part of another whole. Taking from that idea, 28-year­old Grover Beach artist Pacha envisioned multi­ple artists collaborating on a mosaic of projects, giving birth to the Holonic Art Movement.
“The idea began as a way for me to interact with artists,” says Pacha, who moved from east­ern Germany to the Central Coast in 2004. “People have their own identity and are their own personality, but at the same time we are part of a family, a community, a country. We are part of something bigger. That is what the Holonic Art Movement is about. We all are sep­arate artists across the world, but at the same time we create something bigger.”

Given only color as a thematic element, Pacha began locally by handing out canvases at month­ly meetings of the Oil, Pastel and Acrylic Group at the SLO Art Center in early 2006. In 2007, nine six–by-six-inch wood panels began the international tour from the Central Coast to such places as Poland, Germany , Canada and the United Kingdom. Soon, other panels and larger canvases began traversing the globe before returning to Arroyo Grande.
Each artist either creates his or her own small piece that will become part of a mosaic, works on an existing piece by painting over or adding to it, or paints on a por­tion of canvas before sending it to the next artist. In one 18-by-18-inch piece called Blue Vessel, the panels were assembled into a mosaic with indi­vidual pieces for sale. When a square is sold, a new artist is selected to produce a new panel, so that the nine-piece series is always complete. Ultimately, each individual project in the exhi- bition has been worked on by multiple artists who have never shared studio space or in most cases even met in person.
“It is art from around the world,” Pacha says. “What is more exciting than that?”

Pacha’s idea has garnered attention and sup­port from the art community. In February of 2008, she received an ART Inspires! Individual Artist Grant from ARTS Obispo (SLO County Arts Council) and the San Luis Obispo Community Foundation. Furthering the concept of a global art community, during the exhibition some local artists will participate in the interna­tional art happening The Harbour of my Heart, where artists from around the world launch small ships or boats into the sea (a nearby pond in this case) to commemorate all the absences, losses and bereavements in the world today.

Pacha says Holonic Art has a place in a merging world. “You can’t do it by yourself anymore,” she says. “I think it comes down to people realiz­ing that they are stronger if they work together on something. This is my way of doing it.”
Pacha’s future plans include collaborative projects with sculptors, writers, painters and photographers as well as workshops and class­es for children.

The free Holonic Art Exhibition takes place from 5 to 9 p.m. at CorkStop Studios, locat­ed at 1250 Judith Lane in Arroyo Grande. The event also offers wine, live music and a buffet catered by local restaurants. A collec­tion of playing-card-sized hand-painted art­work and poems about the concept of identi­ty, bound into a book by local book artist Julie Frankel, will also be on display. Individual art pieces will be for sale, with a portion of earnings going to SONRISA Colombia, a private organization that helps homeless children in Colombia. For more infor­mation, call 709-0011 or visit www.holonicarts.com

Together we create – New Times · September 25, 2008 – October 1, 2008· By Christy Heron

Something about Autumn coming around encourages artists to get together, instead of creating alone, hence the Collaborative Holonic Art Event. This unique art event includes works by over 60 local, national and international artists at the first Holonic Art event, happening on Septebemr 27, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. The Holonic Art Movement brings artists together through a shared canvas that travels from artist to artist, and also by giving a number of panels to artists around the world with a single unifying concept in mind, and then mounting the collective results as one piece. CorkStop Studios will be hosting the first show for this body of work. Food and wine courtesy of local caterers and vineyards.

Hornaday’s Holons – New Times · September 11, 2008 – September 18, 2008 · By Ashley Schwellenbach

A cell is a holon. So is an organ, and a person. Canvases are as well, even those that have been streaked with paint, according to Pacha Hornaday. The SLO-based artist, who originally hails from East Germany, first encountered the word in a passage of a book addressing the development of consciousness. From this she coined the term holonic as a description for the art movement she was hoping to launch in San Luis Obispo.

“[A holon] describes a thing that is an entity in itself but part of something bigger. You can say humans are individuals but we are part of something bigger,” the painter explained. “As artists we need to express ourselves, but together we can create something that is bigger than the sum of its parts.”

Hornaday’s communal-oriented approach to art may stem from her East German roots. She almost wistfully describes the collaborative world she left behind, a community where artists would meet once a month and paint from 8 p.m. until 8 a.m. She sought similar opportunities on the Central Coast, joining groups and attending workshops, but her optimism soured into something more like boredom after endless hours of talking about art. So, she started passing out canvases.

This was in 2006. When a canvas returned she would pass it along to yet another artist, requesting that they contribute to the piece while respecting the original creator’s work. More often than not she’d have a hand in each piece as well. Most of the canvases were touched by no fewer than six artists. When some of the pieces returned the artists had completely obliterated any reference to the previous artist. The impulse was simply too strong for artists accustomed to working alone.

“You can’t be completely ego and not communicate with the world outside but you can’t lose yourself in the community,” Hornaday explained. “For me it’s a challenge not to be influenced by the work. I get pieces back and I’m like ‘Oh my gosh, I want to do something with that.’ It’s a challenge to keep my hands off of it.”

When the experiment works, each phase of the painting is its own masterpiece but the truly unique—and fascinating—aspect of the movement is identifying how the artists respond to themes, symbols, and colors within each other’s work. In one image a figure drifting off to the side is ripe for intellectual plucking. In another a streak of color may pique an artist’s interest.

Of the more than 20 canvases Hornaday has assembled thus far, more than 60 artists—some of them from as far away as Finland, Germany, and Peru—can claim ownership. Hornaday posted information about her movement on deviantART in order to attract an international palette. But even her diverse assortment of local artists is impressive, reading like a Who’s Who of movers and shakers in the local arts world. Peter Steynberg, Alissa Maddren, Steven deLuque, Peg Grady, Lena Rushing, and Glynis Chaffin Tinglof are just a few of the creators that Hornaday recruited for her playful effort.

But without a specific focus and intention Hornaday’s canvases may have circled the globe endlessly. Then, in February, she received an Arts Inspires grant from the Community Foundation. In addition to funding more supplies the grant required her to exhibit her holonic work within the year.

So, Hornaday began searching for a space for her event, which couldn’t simply be an exhibition of the work that had already been done; she wanted to create yet another opportunity for artists to work together. She eventually settled upon CorkStop Studios, a barn space and studio in Arroyo Grande operated by three contemporary abstract painters—Carol Paquet, Xenia Madison, and Anne Stahl. In addition to a sale of the work on Sept. 20 from 5 to 9 p.m., CorkStop Studios will host a mixed media collage FATbook workshop.

Under Sarah Winkler’s guidance, artists that register for the workshop will participate in multiple projects including collages and journals. At the end of the session, the artists swap pages with one another, each walking away with a freshly created and bound book full of all the participants’ artwork. According to Hornaday, the workshop, which has a $35 participation fee and lasts from 1 to 5 p.m., has the capacity for 30 artists. But she’d be pleased with an intimate atmosphere and half that number as well.

In addition to individual canvases painted by many creative hands, Hornaday made use of several other collaborative techniques, including exquisite corpse—which local artists Jimmy apRoberts and Brian Christopher have utilized to remarkable effect. She also mailed several of her international artists smaller panels, and a theme, theorizing that the smaller panels would form a larger piece. Sometimes the theme is as simple as a color, like orange or blue.

“I want the pieces to work together but at the same time I don’t want to have to give them too much,” Hornaday explained of her theme-selecting process. “Because we’re all very different in terms of how we paint we had to come up with a theme that doesn’t restrict. For one series we came up with the theme vessel because it has very different meanings.”

As individual segments of the collective piece are sold new artists will fill the empty space, making the work ever-changing and alive—not unlike a worm that reconstructs itself after being halved.

Sometimes the process simply doesn’t work. One artist’s interpretation of a theme won’t mesh with the work presented by the other participants. Or an artist will commit to creating a panel and fail to come through. On one particularly disappointing occasion a panel returning from Peru was lost in the mail. But these obstacles have not prevented the determined Hornaday. For every panel that is lost in the mail or assigned to a flaky artist, she has another opportunity to get her hands on a canvas.

Beyond creating an opportunity for local artists to play, Hornaday’s Holonic Arts Movement sale will benefit homeless children in Columbia. When she first began selling her work in San Luis Obispo, Hornaday committed a portion of her sales to Sonrisa, a small, private organization where a little bit of money has a big impact. And, ultimately, it is the thoughtful juxtaposition of large and small, and the fact of smaller elements accumulating into something infinitely more meaningful, that Hornaday’s holons are all about.

Arts Editor Ashley Schwellenbach apparently tried to host a rock concert in a cemetery. Say ‘what’ at aschwellenbach@newtimesslo.com.