Holly O’Meehan

Holly O’Meehan (b. 1991) works by combining various ceramic and fibre craft techniques, finding harmony between the hard and soft.

Working in her Walyalup/Fremantle studio, O’Meehan appropriates natural forms like teeth, quills, spines and thorns, nestling them among gentler, softer textures and voluptuously rounded surfaces.

The resulting sculptural objects have a whimsical, creature-like presence; their playful and defensive structures seem to repel and beguile us in equal measure.

O’Meehan has developed her approach throughout the course of a double Bachelor in Fine Arts and Art & Design at Curtin University, a number of group exhibitions, national art prizes and several significant solo exhibitions, most recently Defence/Defiance at Goolugatup Heathcote Gallery.

FEATURED WORK

2022

A series of hand built porcelain
sculptures inspired by the 73% endemic species out of the 681 Proteaceaes found in the South West region of WA.
The work further explores the themes and issues raised during O’Meehan’s recent solo exhibition, DefenceDefiance
at Goolugatup Heathcote. A speculative interpretation of the inevitable evolution of the landscape and vegetation, forced into action by harsh
human interference. Although a dark and morbid reality, O’Meehan suggests
the aggressive reaction is more a
hopeful form of self-defence by the ‘slow movers’ of our natural
environment.