Local artist, Holly Wallace

By Adrienne Mason

In March 2020, many Eston residents might have stopped by the Prairie West Historical Society for a glimpse at a new gallery showing of Holly Wallace’s beautiful life-like art pieces. To say that these are just pencil and paper drawings is very much an understatement. Yet at it’s core, that is all Wallace uses to create such moving, dynamic, and realistic images.

Inspired by the world around her, Wallace near perfectly showcases the beauty of rural life in small town Saskatchewan. Her images are completed with golden fields of wheat, landmark grain elevators, stunning wildlife, and Saskatchewan’s “living skies”. They way Wallace captures each detail with such accuracy is nothing short of amazing. It is no wonder that she was giving a special gallery showing for her pieces at the PWHS. Her items were on display for a few weeks, and unfortunately the showcase was cut short due to the current pandemic.

Growing up, Wallace was constantly given time, space, and encouragement to work on her art. Yet life took her in a different direction. In post-secondary education, Wallace went to studied Civil Engineering. Her art was put on hold at that time as she focused on her career. After about 10 years, Holly and her husband were starting to grow their family, and decided to change their pace and take over the family farm near Tyner, SK. After the move and some time focusing on her children, Wallace was inspired to pick up a pencil again and sketch the beauty she saw in her life on the farm.

If you did not get the opportunity to view Holly’s work at the PWHS last March, you can view and purchase prints on Facebook by searching ‘Holly Wallaces Artwork’.