December 2013

High Society

Despite its highly-developed social structure, sophisticated hunting tactics, athleticism, and intelligence, the hyena has been portrayed as perpetually deviant. Traditional folklore depicts the hyena as an unkempt, uncivil trickster. Often overlooked in animal rights dialogue and snubbed by zoos, hyenas dwell within a narrow stereotyped existence, misunderstood and marginalized. Popular culture persists in portraying the hyena as the villain, a proxy for the human thief to be held in contempt, whereas other animals such as the lion receive respect as noble creatures. This misinformed perception parallels the under-appreciated reception of handcraft in the visual arts. Embroidery has long been associated with women’s work and the cult of domesticity, and has most often been excluded from the annals of art history. In bringing together two historical miscasts—the hyena and the practice of sewing—objects of minimal prestige may be reexamined as subjects worthy of empathy and awe. In representing this nontraditional pariah through traditional embroidery, this series of “drawings” seeks to challenge our aesthetic prejudices and to reclaim the hyena as a complex creature of the natural world.

Elizabeth Holtry received her BA in studio art from the University of Maryland, College Park, and her MFA in painting from the University of Cincinnati. She has exhibited her work in regional and national venues, including: Hillyer Art Space, The Delaplaine Fine Arts Center, The Jones Center for Contemporary Art, Signal 66, Hooks-Epstein Gallery, The Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, American University, Stephen F. Austin State University, and the University of Delaware. She is currently an Associate Professor of visual art at Mount St. Mary’s University, and she lives in Frederick, Maryland.

Visit Holtry’s website at www.elizabethholtry.com.