Untitled, 1999.
Oil on canvas, 48" x 36".
Gift of the artist to Lynne Kelley, Arlington Heights, IL.

Little Boy Red, 1998.
Oil on canvas, 24" x 30".
Gift of the artist to Tom Hanlon, Glen Ellyn, IL.

Red, the essence of life,
Deep or bright, dark or light
Shakes the world around.

Red to see, red to feel,
Red that once upon a time
Walked the earth beneath our feet...

Springs back to life
On a pale white canvas
Stretched across a wooden frame.

- Martha Hollingsworth, 1998

Santa, 1996.
Oil on canvas, 18" x 24".
Collection of the artist.

Claire (Lindenlaub), 1996.
Oil on canvas, 16" x 20".
Collection of the artist.

Rachel (Borcher), 1996.
Oil on canvas, 24" x 18".
Collection of the artist.

Featherlight, whirling round,
Thick or thin, paint to canvas
Sparks a place upon her soul whose
Truth does not know words.

Knowledge from the depths of
Unseen things untold,
Opens the eyes of her
Heart of now in color and in form.

Artifice of happiness, exposed by
An artist's brush
Stretch the muscles of her mouth
In an expression of distrust.

- Martha Hollingsworth, 1998

Copy of Madame Rousseau et sa fille by Louise Vigee-Le Brun, 1995.
Oil on canvas, 24" x 29".
Collection of the artist.

Incorporated by the artist into Lodge of Many Moons (see Copy Work and Merging and Emerging).

Edie (Ero), 1995.
Oil on Canvas, 36" x 24".
Collection of the artist.

Innocence that is a little child,
Unfettered by wide spread wings,
Knows no reason to fear
Impending leaps of instinct.

- Martha Hollingsworth, 1998

Part of the Red and Yellow, Black and White series.

Copy of Portrait d'un Homme by Jean Honore Fragonard, 1994.
Oil on canvas, 24" x 28".
Collection of the artist.

Incorporated by the artist into Totem of Taboo (see Copy Work and Merging and Emerging).

Copy of detail from Henri de Gas and His Niece Lucie de Gas by Edgar Degas, 1994.
Oil on canvas, 20" x 16".
Collection of the artist.

Incorporated by the artist into a decorator pillow (see Copy Work).

Red, 1994.
Oil on canvas.
Gift of the artist to AIEDA (American Indian Economic Development Association).

Part of the Red and Yellow, Black and White series.

Naly (Sithovong), 1994.
Oil on canvas.

Part of the Red and Yellow, Black and White series.

Mr. (J.L.) Lowe, 1994.
Gift of the artist to Roberta Lowe, Birmingham, AL.

This past year I attended a retreat. Participants worked together sharing stories which were intended to identify our spiritual mentors. My life has been chaotic. Of all the official representatives of organized religion who had ubiquitously darkened my life in the name of enlightenment, I knew none whom I would dignify with the title of mentor. I'm so angry with churchiness I drew a blank. Clearly this kind of thinking indicated that I was again expecting to find love in a place more concerned with power than compassion. I felt betrayed by my own simple mindedness.

After some reflection, I began to hear the words and tune to Tuxedo Junction. Immediately, Mr. Lowe's face appeared. I met him in Birmingham, Alabama about 20 years ago. Because we each knew and loved Jazz, we had met. This common ground allowed us to touch each other's lives. Art had brought together two people who probably never would have met in another walk of life due to the severe racial stratification which is the reality of southern life. Mr. Lowe's intuitive ability to understand my need to be heard and valued was a new experience for me. At first, It was hard to assimilate. Trust came with time and consistent encouragement. I never would have taken my gift seriously without his influence. To honor him I painted this portrait. I made it bigger than life because the impact he has had on me has been bigger than life. I believe our friendship has been of Divine Inspiration. The sounds of the Big Band have brought me God's love revealed in J.L. Lowe.

- Martha Hollingsworth, 1994

Geoff, 1994.
Oil on canvas, 30" x 24".

Incorporated by the artist into Icon of Urban Indian Youth (see Merging and Emerging).

Mrs. Gore and Me, 1994.
Oil on canvas, 36" x 48".
Collection of the artist.

This is a painting of the artist as a young child and her maternal grandmother. Part of the Birds and Bees series.

Geoff (Decrucq), 1993.
Oil on Canvas, 26" x 20".
Gift of the artist to Geoff Decrucq, Portland, OR.

This painting begins a four part series. Today we acknowledge that there are all the races in my family. As children we learned very quickly about racial double standards in Sunday school. We would sing, "red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight" and go home to live out internalized racism about our own ethnicity. As a mixed racial family, this was our greatest contribution to the ideal of a single civilization for everyone. The meaning of this impoverishment on my life is still revealing itself to me.

The complete series will contain four separate paintings hung two across the top and two underneath. A young child from each racial group, red, yellow, black, and white, will embrace a different bird representative of peace and grace, as generally attributed to Native American, Asian, African, and European cultures. Each painting is to be juxtaposed flush to the others.

The idea to express this theme occurred as I was painting my middle son from a snapshot taken 20 years ago. I was feeling nostalgic about his childhood, so I began to paint him as a tot. After I painted him with the dove and olive branch, I began musing about just how universal these signs of peace were. They're not. Then I decided to add three other paintings to portray a more inclusive symbolism. These three components are currently in process.

- Martha Hollingsworth, 1994

Fess Whatley, 1993.
Oil on canvas.
Commissioned portrait, Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, Birmingham, AL.

Charles (Decrucq), 1992.
Oil on canvas, 30" x 30".
Collection of the artist.

Aunt Mary (Skinder), 1991.
Watercolor.

Geoff Drinking Glass of Water, 1991.
Oil on canvas.

Gift of Life, 1990.
Oil on canvas, 24" x 30".
Collection of the artist.

Child of ashes, born of pain,
cradled in the pouring rain.
Dark night estrangement,
a living death,
groping, you wail into emptiness.
Suckled in grief,
who hears your cries?
Strange condemnation,
this gift of life.

- inscription on the painting.

Infant with Bilateral Cleft Palette, 1990.
Colored pencil.

Tom with Glider, 1990.
Oil on canvas, 30" x 36".
Collection of the artist.

Geoff at Table, 1989.
Oil on canvas.
Gift of the artist to John Hollingsworth, Birmingham, AL.

Self Portrait, 1983.
Acrylic on cardboard, 20" x 18".
Gift of the artist to Jim Hanlon, Glen Ellyn, IL.

Me..
By Myself
Painted in Chicago
1983

- inscription on the painting

Woman, 1982.
Oil on canvas.

Charles with Toy Truck, 1982.
Oil on canvas, 15" x 24".
Collection of the artist.

Pete (Baker), 1982.
Oil on canvas, 24" x 15".
Collection of the artist.

Marc (Rust), 1981.

Girl.
Watercolor.