Holly Nelson, Contemporary Artist
A Lifetime of Experiences
◉ EXPRESSED IN COLOR & TEXTURE ◉
Sediment of Grace — Through layered color and texture, this piece explores how grace settles into the fractures of what remains.
Holly Nelson wrestles reclamation from color, texture, and found material.
Her hands work through layers, coaxing beauty from what was once broken, revealing how fragments can remember wholeness.
Each piece bears the evidence of that struggle — the scraping, the softening, the surrender.
It is not perfection she seeks, but renewal.
Her art mirrors the human journey,
where healing comes through tenacity, grace, and the will to begin again.
She invites you to pause,
to feel the quiet pulse of restoration,
and to remember that beauty is never lost — only waiting to be found.
A Life in Layers
A BEGINNING
Growing up in Denver, Colorado, shaped my sense of color, texture, and light. The deep blue sky of high altitude and the gold shimmer of autumn aspens taught me early how beauty can lift the heart of a sensitive child.
Hours spent skating on frozen mountain lakes or climbing granite boulders filled me with that familiar Rocky Mountain high. Nature became both my refuge and my teacher and art was its language.
A MIDDLE
Beginning in my late grade school years, I joined my older brother, Scott, in creating and selling handmade pieces at the local flea market. He carved cherry and peach-pit baskets, and I arranged tiny dried wildflower bouquets inside. We both loved miniatures, ships in bottles, mountain scenes built from bark and moss, tiny china deer and foxes tucked in. Those early years sparked in me a lifelong joy of creating from what the earth offers, and a belief that art connects us to place and story.
A GOOD & PLEASANT LAND
Today I call Kansas home. The shift from the dramatic rise of the Front Range to the vast, breathing horizon of the prairie was not an easy one, yet it has deepened my work in ways I couldn’t have imagined. The tall grasses move like waves, the sunsets glow with quiet majesty, and the land itself feels alive with memory and grace. My heart echoes the Psalmist’s words: “The land you have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance!” I hope my paintings carry that sense of inheritance—the color and texture of the plains, and the warmth of belonging among chosen family and friends.