Artwork copyright Catherine Holahan. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Artwork copyright Catherine Holahan. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2016.

Reflections, 1997

Catherine Holahan
American (born 1939, died 2005)

Location: Renton High School, Seattle

About the Artwork

Artist Catherine Holahan captured the distorted surface of a dented and discarded chimney flue in her photograph 'Reflections.' She used photography to explore how the texture, pattern, and color of objects are enhanced by age. In her own words "I am always on the lookout for things that have been discarded, neglected, or abandoned. The textures, patterns, and colours become enhanced by age and are beautiful to me."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with .

About the Artist

Photographer and painter Catherine Holahan (1939-2005) created compositions that explored the passage of time and the beauty found in transformation. In her own words, "What interests me about the the objects I collect, photograph, and paint, is the effect of the passage of time; the ravages of man, nature, and the elements; the worn and worn out, and the beauty found in this transformation from the useful to the neglected." Holahan lived in Boston, Massachusetts, and Galiano Island, British Columbia, Canada. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English LIterature from Columbia University in New York City. Twenty-five years later, she studied photography at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and the New England School of Photography. She focused on photography since 1988 as a photojournalist and art photographer.