Siri Hollander enjoys international success as a master sculptor of horses. An unconventional upbringing contributes immensely to the distinctive looks and exceptional appeal of her sculptures. Her family moved to Southern Spain when she was three years old, affording her the opportunity to experience the vibrant culture of Andalucia and the freedom of being home-schooled. Her father was a self-taught painter and her mother a gifted poet. She remembers playing with clay in her father’s studio while he painted and frequent forays to the river where she built things out of sticks and mud, expanding her technical and aesthetic skills the whole time. Her first commercial success came at the age of seventeen when her 20-foot-tall stallion was installed at Spain’s Malaga Airport.
Being self-taught, having a lifelong connection with horses and other animals, and always learning from every new sculpture, Hollander takes the intuitive approach to every aspect of her work, including the creative process. “It’s not a conscious decision. Sometimes I start something, get distracted, and start something else. Just the act of making something carries everything. It tells you what to do.”
Hollander combines metals and cement to create a variety of distinctive textures that bring her sculptures to life. Her horses evoke childhood days spent looking for ancient coins, spelunking in prehistoric caves, and savoring the traditions and customs of the ranching community in which she grew up.
Hollander’s abstract-realist approach to form endows her sculptures with feelings of action, motion, and repose. “The looser the lines, the more I like it. I can guarantee the proportions will not be correct,” she says, preferring to let form, texture, and playful, graceful strengths define her subjects.
A Santa Fe resident since 1976, Hollander now has four children, one grandchild, dogs, cats, and horses. “I work like crazy every day. When I burn out, I do something like farming or horseback riding. In summers I go to Ojo Sarco where I have a vegetable garden and grow grass for the horses. Tending the fields and mending fences give me the same tranquility I get from sculpting. I don’t ‘have to do this or that’ I just let time pass as the clouds roll by. The sun comes up and the sun goes down—and that’s ideal.”
Hollander’s sculptures can be seen in public and private collections throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.