James Neil Hollingsworth

I’ve heard it said that most people will have three major careers in their life. I’m now well into my fourth. Following a tour in the military in the early 70’s I worked a number of day jobs, and went to school at night. No real direction, just planning ahead.
It was during this period that I discovered soaring, and spent most of my summer weekends flying sailplanes. The lure of aviation became so strong that I decided to put the academic world on hold, and entered technical school. Two years later I was a licensed aircraft mechanic working at a local airport.
Aviation at that time was an all consuming passion for me, but between working on aircraft, flying and a short lived affair with skydiving, I still found time to paint an occasional watercolor, or illuminate a letter to a friend.

At the end of a particularly cold winter working in an unheated hanger, I found myself tempted to change careers when the father of a friend, who owned a graphic design business offered me a job as a paste up artist. I chose to mothball my tools, and accept his offer. I gave my notice at Hangar One, and two weeks later I was working as an “artist”.

I eventually left there to become a partner in a typesetting/graphic design business with my friend Michel. That was a great job. No money, but lots of fun. Sadly, at the end of nearly eight years of operation, the growing popularity of desktop publishing had begun to take such a large bite out of our business that Michel and I decided to close up our shop. After that I worked for a number of design firms on a salaried, and freelance basis. I also worked for two years as a book designer, and illustrator for a small publishing company.

Ready to give up the freelance world for a stable job with a regular paycheck I decided to follow in the footsteps of my wife Karen, who at the time was working as a registered nurse. Two tough years of nursing school later, I was an RN.

My nursing career began in the ER, but I eventually moved to the operating room. This lasted nearly eight years. Then one day our friends Jeff and Leslie Cohen told Karen and I how they had begun to sell their artwork over the internet. We gave it a try, and discovered that it worked. I spent the following year working days in the OR, and painting nights and weekends. At the close of that year the sales of my art were such that I felt confident enough to take the leap, and left nursing to paint full-time.

Now I am represented by four fine galleries, and have my work in private collections throughout the United States, and around the world.

GALLERY SHOWS

Group Exhibition

Mason Murer Fine Art, Atlanta, GA

Contrasts
Anne Irwin Gallery
Group Show / Fall 2009 Atlanta, GA

Trifecta
Twinhouse Gallery
Three-man Show / Winter 2008 Atlanta, GA

Simple Details
Wynne/Falconer Gallery
Two Man Show / 2007 Cape Cod, MA

ATLart 07
Atlanta Gallery Association – Art House
Group Show / 2007 Atlanta, GA

Hollingsworth Squared
Twinhouse Gallery
Two-man Show / Winter 2007 Atlanta, GA

ATLart 06
Atlanta Gallery Association – Art House
Group Show / 2006 Atlanta, GA

Mr. and Mrs. Hollingsworth
Twinhouse Gallery
Two-man Show / Winter 2006 Atlanta, GA

ATLart 05
Atlanta Gallery Association – Art House
Group Show / 2005 Atlanta, GA

In Good Company
Twinhouse Gallery
Summer 2005 Atlanta, GA