Holly Irwin

Holly grew up in Pittsburg and attended the Carnegie Institute from age 12 until college, learning to draw and study art from the classical perspective. She then attended Carnegie Mellon where she studied art. Holly was inspired by her mother who was an illustrator and portrait painter. There were always easels around the house with artwork in various stages. Art, painting and drawing were a way of life for Holly growing up, and since she also studied art in college, the artist's path would seem like the natural direction. But after graduating from Carnegie Mellon, Holly got married, moved South and got a job that had nothing to with art or painting. She moved on to other things, leaving art behind for many years.

 

And then 10 years ago the illness struck and changed the course of Holly's life. She says she knew very soon after the diagnosis that she wanted to return to her dream of being an artist. But this was easier said than done, because the arthritis particularly affected Holly's hands - the artist's tool. But she persevered and found that when she is drawing or painting she does not feel the pain. She feels that she is now living the life she was intended to live and being who she was created to be.