Kristin Hollis

KRISTIN HOLLIS was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1942 and spent much of her childhood in Venezuela and The Netherlands. She earned a BA (Honours) in Printmaking, Graphic Communication and Typography from the University of Reading, England then worked in publishing in London. She and her husband, a New Zealander, settled in New Zealander and, while raising a family, she maintained a connection with her arts practice mostly through fabric art, drawing and teaching. During the 1990s she returned to artschool, studying at Ilam School of Art, University of Canterbury, from where she achieved a Masters in Fine Arts (Distinction) in Painting in 1998.

Known for her large portrait heads, she is visceral in her approach to materials – her hand always shows. Intrigued with abstraction and patterning she is always conscious of the edges, the boundaries. Illusory space comes and goes. In recent years Kristin’s subject matter has been the passage of her own life. Early years as a child-of-the-world feed her work and she continues to collect impressions and mine memories.

Kristin Hollis exhibits regularly and is the winner of several awards including the Cranleigh Barton Drawing award in 2005. Her work is held in Christchurch Art Gallery, Te Puna O Waiwhetu, Suter Gallery, Ara Institute of Technology and in private collections in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Exhibitions:
2026 – BACKTRACK
2025 – FACE (group exhibition)
2019 – Objects D’Art