One World Café presents Hollace M. Metzger

Of Memory, Space, and Place

Hollace M. Metzger is an architect, visual artist, and poet. Growing up in the American mid-West, Metzger wasn’t particularly rooted. Her interest in travel developed after accompanying her mother on several trips to various countries in the Caribbean. Later, she earned a degree in architecture from the University of Kentucky, where she experienced a different style of American culture in the South, and where she also received the opportunity to travel abroad to study architecture in Venice. From Italy, to New York, and on to most countries in Western Europe, Metzger’s life became about the expression of mobility.

Her poetry and artwork frames that momentum, drawing listeners and viewers worldwide. As a way of honoring a particular time and space, each of Metzger’s artistic expressions is also unique and site-specific. Her poetry collections reveal that intimacy, yet Metzger’s words and their rhythm remain accessible, her imagery captivatingly familiar. She evokes a rare kindness and an inspiration to honor our private and public spaces.

Within an empty space, Metzger discovers what needs to be there artistically. You might say that she can sense the same about the human spirit and the need for art in our communities. Where that empty space is growing, Metzger already plans to eventually fill it with community-oriented, art based idea centers.

In Transcriptions of Time (2009), you will find her interest in the effects of an environment on people. She enunciates the pulse of those around her, of the passing scenery, the jostling of life, and others with their own artistic creations. She is all encompassing in her desire to blend the fields of poetry, art, architecture, and psychology. Since 2007, when she created her first book, Observing the Labyrinth from Heaven, Metzger has collaborated with a wide array of musicians, from djs to a symphony. She has undergone an artistic debut that includes recording an audio book. TranSYNphony (2010) includes more than six hours of audio from the poetry collections. The book Why the WilloW (2010) is Metzger’s latest poetry publication and includes 64 of her own black-and-white photographs. Metzger recently opened the architectural venture MiDEA Studio and is currently developing projects for European design competitions.

—Shana Thornton

Follow Hollace online
www.hollacemetzger.com
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Transcriptions of Time: The Collected Works buy now