Artist Updates
Upcoming Events:
Opening Reception: BHSU Fine Arts Senior Exhibit
Screenprint Works Exploring Identity, Character, and Pop Culture Development
Dahl Arts Center; Rapid City, SD
May 8th, 5-7pm
My Screenprinting Process: Bold Colors, CMYK and LOTS of Photographs
My Art Studio
About the Artist
Hollie Hight (b. 2002) is a contemporary multimedia artist based out of the Black Hills of South Dakota, with a primary focus on printing processes. She is currently in her fifth year at Black Hills State University working towards a BFA in studio art and a degree in forestry and grassland ecology. She loves to combine her passion for both plants and art, hoping to someday become the owner of a plant shop that also commissions local artists to sell work to the community and carry out art-based projects and workshops. Hollie is mostly known for her colorful screenprints that are reminiscent of retro-style art inspired by pop culture, iconography, and identity. Her process primarily involves working from photographs she has taken herself or historical family portraits. Her favorite photographs to work from are self-portraits, as she has a number of different characters or personalities she likes to showcase and recycle through. Hollie also works these processes into ceramic and film photographic processes as well.
My artwork aims to evoke a diverse range of feelings in viewers. Identity is the biggest theme that drives my work, as I often like to work with portraits of myself or others. The use of many different “characters” in my work is meant to invite viewers to draw their own conclusions about these characters. The ‘cowboy’ is my favorite identity to depict, as cowboys once roamed the Black Hills, the place I have lived my whole life. These deeper meanings are often whimsical and ironic, or complex. The focus of my work is to evoke these types of questions about identity or culture in viewers. Printing processes and photography are the main methods of creating my work; the use of bright colors in my screenprints is meant to evoke the retro-style reminiscent of late 20th century art and culture. Art, music, and film from this era is immensely rich with popular culture, which inspires my body of work. I like to implement these ‘pop art’ strategies to invoke a sense of nostalgia and celebrity-like idolization through the characters depicted in my work.
Artist Statement
Artist Resume
Education
Sturgis Brown High School | Sturgis, SD (2016-2020)
GPA: 3.505
Black Hills State University | Spearfish, SD (2021-2026)
BFA in Studio Art
Forest and Grassland Ecology
Current GPA: 3.952
Art Club Vice President (2024-25)
Art Club President (2025-26)
Wenona Cook Art Studios (2024-25)
Work Experience
Black Hills State University Facilities | Spearfish, SD (2023-24)
Grounds work includes landscaping, watering, weeding, fencing
Setting up BHSU events
Cardboard, trash, and recycling upkeep
Art Exhibitions and Events
Ruddell Gallery | Spearfish, SD | BZRK / bar’z3:rk/ | 2023
Matthews Opera House Gallery | Community Art Show | 2023
Ruddell Gallery | Spearfish, SD | Super Fine | 2024
President’s Gallery, BHSU | Spearfish, SD | 2024
Ruddell Gallery | Spearfish, SD | Make/Shift | 2025
Matthews Opera House Gallery | Spearfish, SD | Community Art Show | 2025
Matthews Opera House Gallery | Spearfish, SD | Art @ BHSU | 2025
Jonas Photo Gallery, BHSU | Spearfish, SD | 2025
Ruddell Gallery | Spearfish, SD | Material Thinking | 2026
Dahl Arts Center | Rapid City, SD | BHSU Fine Arts Senior Exhibit | 2026
Community Projects
Empty Bowls Project | Deadwood, SD | Volunteer | 2024
BHSU Family Picnic Face Painting | Spearfish, SD | Volunteer | 2025
Evans Park Mural | Spearfish, SD | Volunteer | 2025
Empty Bowls Project | Deadwood, SD | Volunteer | 2024
BHSU Family Picnic Face Painting | Spearfish, SD | Volunteer | 2025
Spearfish Sign Project | Spearfish, SD | Class Project | 2025
Dale Lamphere Sculpture Project for Security First Bank | Sturgis, SD | 2026
Awards and Honors
BHSU Dean’s List | 2021-2025
Neiman Forestry Scholarship | 2024
Derral R. Herbst Scholarship | 2025
Amanda May Memorial Scholarship | 2025
Marion Hicks Memorial Visual Arts Scholarship | 2025