Holland Van Gores | Wood
Art for Sale
10% of all sales go directly to Henderson County COVID-19 Response Fund
Click on image for details.
Visit Holland’s Studio
Q&A with Holland
1. What is your chosen medium?
Wood which is either turned on a lathe or used for wood sculpture. I use carving, paint, and metal to accent my wood pieces.
2. How did you start your career in art?
I have always enjoyed building just about anything. There would be times when I became overwhelmed with responsibilities and would need to escape into my woodshop, a place without clients, deadlines, budgets or outside problems. I was able to use my wood, tools, hands, and imagination to unwind, dream, and re-energize. What used to be an escape is now becoming more day to day life.
3. What informs your art?
Mostly things I see around me especially if it’s nature-based. I find myself constantly experimenting with shapes and textures. Recently I’ve had an urge to say something with my art, to add to the conversation or evoke an emotion. I lose interest if my work becomes too repetitious.
4. What jobs you have worked other than as a professional artist?
I was a metal fabricator for Northrup Aviation before getting into residential construction. I have spent the better part of my life building anything and everything people would ask me to. Making things/creating gives me a purpose or feelings of self-worth.
5. What questions do you ask yourself when starting to work?
I will find a piece of wood and hold it looking at every side, running my eyes and hands over the surface waiting for it to show me a form or purpose. That never gets old.
6. Do you have a quote that’s important to you displayed in your studio? If so, what is it?
I do have a quote on my shop wall. It starts out by saying, “ We believe in a world where everyone is inspired to live a creative life.”
7. Which artist (living or not) would you most like to invite for dinner? What would you serve?
Leonardo DaVinci. Tacos. I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like tacos.
8. What has been your most unusual request for your art?
This one stumped me or maybe I just haven’t been asked anything out of the ordinary yet, but I’m ready.
9. What music are you listening to these days?
I enjoy a wide range of music that has an amazing effect on my creativity. It sets the mood for me depending on what I’m doing at the moment. Classical in the morning, Reggae or Jazz in the afternoon, oldies at sundown, and Enya when I’ve hit a rough patch in the road.
10. What is on your nightstand?
Do you mean what am I reading at the moment? I usually find myself all over the place subject wise. I spend a lot of time figuring out how things work, whether mechanically or politically. I am always looking for an answer or the truth.
“From early on I have had a need to create or be a maker of things. When I create something that moves me from a piece of discarded wood I feel a great satisfaction. I love handmade objects as opposed to mass produced, it helps define us as humans. It’s my way of countering a world that is increasingly choosing quantity over quality, disposable over long life.”
About Holland
Holland Van Gores was born in Southern California in 1953. As a child he enjoyed boats and the ocean.
He began working with wood, building skate boards, model airplanes, and anything he could in his father’s shop. His artist mother taught him the beauty of nature and the limitless diversity of shapes, textures, and colors, as well as the wonder they emanate.
After high school Van Gores traveled to and explored Mexico, Panama, San Blas Islands, Grand Cayman, and Costa Rica. The jungles of Costa Rica fascinated him enough to prolong his stay of seven months. Those travels inspired him to leave California in 1979, buy a sailboat and begin the adventure of sailing through out the Caribbean. With his tools onboard he combined his love of the sea and woodworking.
He married his “Island Girl” who came to the Caribbean from Michigan. They set sail for South America exploring dozens of Islands and the many diverse cultures through out the chain. After the adventure of a lifetime Van Gores and his wife Mickie moved to dry land, were blessed with twin girls, and built a tropical home in a rain forest high on a mountain slope. He continued his construction business while balancing fatherhood and woodturning. Most of his work is done using fallen or discarded trees as he saw firsthand the devastation clear cutting did to the area where he had lived in Costa Rica.
2013 has brought a major change to the Van Gores family as they have moved from the island of St. Thomas to the Brevard area and now call it home. Van Gores will continue his woodworking while looking for other opportunities to add to his many experiences.