As we circle around to our fall season, we arrive at Indigenous People’s Day on October 11th. I have learned so much from our native Chumash Bands. They have opened my heart and mind to learning more about all Indigenous populations and they continue to inspire my work.

To be native to a place we must learn to speak its language."
- Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom

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California On My Mind

A show of vintage and contemporary paintings, drawings, and prints that celebrate the history and the mythology of the Golden State.

Sullivan Goss

October 1- November 22, 2021

RECEPTION: 1ST THURSDAY, OCT 7TH | 5-8pm

Before They Came is from my Califia Series and is now on view at Sullivan Goss.

Before They Came, 48x48 oil and cold wax on wood panel rimmed with copper. By Holli Harmon

The bright bold colors invite you into a lush forest scene. The figures hidden within remind you that our State’s native population and Grizzly bears were devastated by the influx of Europeans and the Gold Rush of 1848.

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The Lone Woman

aka Juana Maria or Karana in The Island of the Blue Dolphins

I think she is one of the most significant women in our nation’s history. She lived for over 18 years by herself on San Nicolas Island. When she left the island, she only lived for 7 weeks in Santa Barbara before she died. Her story is a significant portal into our California Indiginous Peoples history starting in public schools 4th grade curriculum, where they read The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell. Read more here…

This painting was created for the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum using descriptions of people who had seen The Lone Woman first hand in 1853. You can see it at the Chumash Hall at the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum. The larger mural was just finished for the new Chrisman California Island Center in Carpinteria, CA. You can see the canvas in my studio and then installed into the new space in Carpinteria. The diorama isn’t complete yet. They hope to open sometime soon in 2022.

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Portraits of the Central Coast

Our regional Chumash continue to inspire and inform my work. I did these paintings for my Portraits of the Central Coast project. I have included links so that you can hear and read their stories first hand and learn about what inspired their portraits. Just click on their image or name.

Ernestine DeSoto Kathleen Marshall Mike Lopez

From my studio desk. Cover painting is the Lone Woman, a historically acurate depiction painted for the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum by Holli Harmon. Noticias is a journal published by the Santa Barbara Museum of History.

As I was sitting down to write this missive, I was stumped.

How do I begin a story that is over 100 years old? The story has not finished yet, we don’t know the ending, or really the beginning. The one thing I do know, is that the Lone Woman, aka Juana Maria or Karana from Scott Odell’s book The Island of the Blue Dolphins, is a very significant person. Her life still has meaning and impact. New information continues to surface, through archeological and digital digging. If you pick up the latest copy of Noticias, from the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, you can learn more about this historic figure.

I had the good fortune to work with the experts who are making new discoveries everyday. They guided me in painting a historically acurate portrait. You can see this painting at the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum in the Chumash Hall.

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A new museum, called the Chrisman California Islands Center,

is preparing to open in Carpinteria California.

Currently, I am painting an 8x14 foot backdrop for a diorama that will feature the story of the Lone Woman. Timing is an amazing thing. I loved the historic novel about this brave woman as a child, and now I get to play a part in telling her life story. Time loops in on itself. I continue to learn, and perhaps, more importantly, un-learn more about our First Nations.

When I can’t find the words to say what I want, I go to my poetry collection and get inspired by these word smiths. I found the perfect poem, written by our current National Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo. She is also the first Native American to hold the position. Like I said, timing is an amazing thing.

Remember

by Joy Harjo, poet Laureate

Remember the sky that you were born under,

know each of the star's stories.

Remember the moon, know who she is.

Remember the sun's birth at dawn, that is the

strongest point of time. Remember sundown

and the giving away to night.

Remember your birth, how your mother struggled

to give you form and breath. You are evidence of

her life, and her mother's, and hers.

Remember your father. He is your life, also.

Remember the earth whose skin you are:

red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth

brown earth, we are earth.

Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their

tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,

listen to them. They are alive poems.

Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the

origin of this universe.

Remember you are all people and all people

are you.

Remember you are this universe and this

universe is you.

Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.

Remember language comes from this.

Remember the dance language is, that life is.

Remember.