PARK RAPIDS — California artist Rosemary Holliday Hall credits two things from her childhood that led her down a path into the arts.
There was a vacant lot behind the house she grew up in with a structure that burned down years before, leaving behind pieces of rusty metal and broken glass and being taken over by thistle, mustard and weeds. Hall and her siblings spent a lot of time back there and built forts.
They would invite each other over to their forts, and Hall told Area Voices on the KAXE Morning Show that she would give gifts to her visitors. She would take pittosporum seed pods, which are green seed pods that have bright red seeds inside coated in slime, and put them on glass or metal. She didn’t know it at the time, but that became a big part of her future art practice.
“I'm looking at the world around me and collecting these often tiny or unnoticed entities and then arranging them in a way that someone else might find interesting," she said. "I find it interesting, kind of putting different materials in conversation with each other.”
Another pivotal moment was meeting astronaut Sally Ride. Hall was very inspired by her and the blue marble image of Earth from the 1972 space trip.
“I was like, 'Oh, I would paint the Earth because clearly they need some other forms of interpretation up there.' I think that was kind of an interesting desire as a child," she said. "I noticed that there needed to be other modes of seeing and sharing information that maybe weren't there at the time.”
Hall has an exhibit on display at the Nemeth Art Center in Park Rapids until July 18. She first visited the area back in October 2025 as part of the artist exchange program between the Nemeth Art Center and the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation.
Hall went on to study environmental horticulture to learn more about the history of plants, and now she works in multiple disciplines of art like video, metal, painting, ceramics and found objects.
She credits just walking around to find inspiration for her work. She has formed a habit of stopping to notice things other people might miss, whether it’s on a forest trail or walking through an industrial park. She keeps an open mind to work with anything.
She visited lots of outdoor spaces, seeing all sorts of different creatures. This inspired her to create small paintings of animals she had seen, like insects, and then she used her imagination to create creatures that didn’t exist, mixing things from different animals.
“They kept coming out and coming out, and they would crack me up sometimes as they came out because I'd be like, ‘Who are you and where did you come from?’” she said.
These paintings are featured at the Nemeth Art Center exhibit, along with videos of vernal pools filled with an ecosystem of all sorts of different creatures. The videos will be projected to be the size of humans so audiences can immerse themselves in the tiny world.
There will also be ceramic pieces covered with scales and glaze. She was inspired by the idea of camouflage and how creatures become one with their environment.
Hall has now been to Park Rapids three different times in the past year, and she’s had a chance to experience the area during major shifts in the season. She witnessed the beginning of fall and now the energetic summer.
“I feel so lucky and grateful to be involved with this community here," she said. " ... and this arts community is so caring and incredible and creative and has really made a special home for me here.”
Listen to the full conversation with Hall by clicking above, and you can find more of her work on her website.
Tell us about upcoming arts events where you live in Northern Minnesota by emailing psa@kaxe.org.
Area Voices is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.
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