Fall 2025: Marcia Holloway Ross

"This body of work includes photo-collage mosaics and abstract pattern paintings. I frequently bounce between these two styles, each acting as a counterbalance to the other. My tendency to

seek out patterns in the world around me is reflected in both methods of working. The mosaics are made with shredded photographs, a material imbued with the meaning of time and place, offering reflection and transformation of old ideas alongside the material itself. I begin by sorting the pieces into color groups. I choose background color based on the way the color groups evolve, often looking for a vibration between them. Then the layout of the work starts to unfold. It is a meditative process much akin to solving a jigsaw puzzle. 

In contrast, my paintings are created with more traditional materials like watercolor or acrylic on paper or canvas to create patterns that are more spontaneous. These pieces usually begin with a washy background layer. Sometimes I dye the canvas to create the first layer and use a medium that removes dye to create an initial pattern. I get to stretch these dyed canvases myself. I am standing while I paint. Decisions about color are made as the painting evolves and the layers build, again looking for that vibration, but also offering spaces of harmony for the eye to fall upon. There is a physicality in working this way that acts as a palate cleanser to the collages. While the different ways of working seem to produce disparate works, the relationship between the two is evident when displayed together. Their symbiosis is key to my creative process."

Artist Biography

Marcia Holloway Ross is a mixed media artist working in a process based practice. She has exhibited work at Capacity Contemporary, Meadow Gallery and KORE Gallery among others in Louisville, KY, at Stay Home Gallery in Paris, TN and Chestnuts and Pearls in New Albany, IN. In 2022 she launched and curated "Mothering Me," an annual group show for artists who are mothers in and around the Kentuckiana region. In its third year the exhibit was held at the Floyd County Carnegie Cultural Arts Center from September 2024 to early January 2025 and included artists from all over Kentucky and Indiana. She has been awarded residencies through the Kentucky Foundation For Women in both 2023 and 2024. Marcia earned a B.F.A. from Pratt Institute (Brooklyn, NY) and is an MFA student with the Hite Institute of Art and Design at the University of Louisville. She lives with her husband and two children in Crestwood, KY.