Camille Holvoet

b. 1952, San Francisco ∙ CE artist since 2001

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Photo by Evguenia Shtill

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Camille Holvoet's artwork is deceptively sweet. Her practice tends to draw on remembrances of life's anxieties and forbidden desires. Holvoet’s process is an endless discovery, in which – through repeatedly drawing in oil pastel her sacred objects: desserts, Ferris wheels, and crossed eyes – the pressures of the past are relieved by the joy of the creative process.

When Holvoet combines text with imagery, the resonance between the two is powerful as it is beautiful. Vibrant renderings of cakes and pies are overwritten with recollections of nightmares, fears, frustrated sexual feelings, and religious doubt. In the studio Holvoet offers gems of wisdom, “We like to act silly sometimes in order to be serious every day.”

Read more about Holvoet in Priscilla Franks' Huff Post piece, "A 63-Year-Old Artist Explains How Art Can Cure Creative Hunger at Any Age," and in Alissa Greenberg's "The Art of the Bittersweet" in BrutForce. Watch the documentary about Camille Holvoet’s life and art below, created in partnership with teaching artist Gilles Combet.

Select Exhibitions & Projects

2020
Cordially Invited 2020, Make Studio, Baltimore, MD
Of Here From There | De Aquí Desde Allá, San Francisco Arts Institute, San Francisco, CA
Mother Nature! at Outsider Art Fair 2020, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, NY

2019
Big Bellies, Jewish Community Center, San Francisco, CA
TANLINES at Summertime Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Creativity Explored at Cutting Ball Theatre, San Francisco, CA
Neighbors: Art from Next Door, Black & Blue Tattoo, San Francisco, CA
The One and Only Camille Holvoet, Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, CA
6 Women of Creativity Explored, Marriott Stanton Hotel, Miami, FL
A Holiday Feast, Kiosk Museum, San Francisco, CA
CE x CG x NIAD, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA
5 Women at Outsider Art Fair 2019, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, NY
Bitchin', Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA

2018
"From" All Over the Place, 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, San Francisco, CA
Nine Hearts Exploring, Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Mind Place, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Outsider Art Fair 2018, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, NY
Faces and Paces in the City, San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, CA

2017
Exposed, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Art and Advocacy, California Museum, Sacramento, CA
Black White, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Sugar Circus, C + M (Coffee and Milk) War Memorial, San Francisco, CA
Outsider Art Fair 2017, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, NY

2016
Ripe, Creativity Explored Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Resonating Resonance, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
Tabula Rasa, Creativity Explored , San Francisco, CA

2015
Collaboration , Ruby's Clay Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2014
They are full of holy..., Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA
New Zealand Outsider Art Fair, The Nathan Club, Britomart , Auckland, New Zealand
Shoerageous, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
INK, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
A Particularly Picky Perfect Goddess: Camille Shelley Holvoet, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA

2013
Outside In: The Art of Inclusion, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland

2012
(Pre)Fabricators, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Creativity Explored at Ambach & Rice, Ambach & Rice, Los Angeles, CA
Fabulous, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Camille Holvoet: Savory and Sweet, 18 Reasons, San Francisco, CA
Are We There Yet?, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA

2011
SMALL, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Faces, Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, CA
The Masters, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
4 Real 4 Faux Animating the Vernacular, Truman State University Art Gallery, Kirksville, MO

2009
"Science" Fiction, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Legend: Myth and Memory, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA

2007
Transmissions, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA

2006
Drawing the Line, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA

2005
Mindful, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Wear to Go, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Subjects of Desire, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA

2004
Spirits and Saints, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Critters, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA

2003
Fired and Wired, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Lit, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA

2002
Art from the Fire, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Women's Work, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA

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