Holly’s Original Art

Holly Thompson sits in her chair and laughs a loud, bubbly contagious giggle. Her bright rainbow colour hair matches her personality – loud and vibrant – and her eyes light up as she talks about her love of art and her micro-enterprise, Holly’s Original Art.

It hasn’t always been rainbows and giggles for Holly, who admits that due to her disability, she felt excluded when she was younger and attending school and couldn’t wait to leave her hometown for new horizons when given the chance.

Arriving in Te Awamutu nearly five years ago, Holly started partnering with ConneXu, a local disability support provider that works with disabled people to enable and empower them, to live the life they choose.

And for Holly, that choice meant living in her own flat with facilitated support when she wants and needs it.

This means Holly is free to work on her art whenever inspiration takes hold while also becoming an active member of her community, something her art has assisted with greatly.

“I love art, I love colour. My mum is an artist and my role model when it comes to my art. Some of what I do, I have learned from her and some I have taught myself, and some is from the art classes I take in town,” she says.

Art sessions held at another local provider has also led her to be part of a local art exhibitions, and she has previously held solo exhibitions at other art spaces in town.

Her art is her small business, or what is known as a micro-enterprise, with Holly heading to local markets to sell her paintings, as well as handmade kawakawa balm, candles, bath bombs, cards, photography, felt creations, jewellery, and tie-dyed creations.

“I have been at the Te Awamutu markets, and Otorohanga, and the craft weekend markets at Fraser High School in Hamilton. The markets are good, and I get to talk to people about my art,” she says.

The self-confessed night owl says a lot of her creativity comes to her in the late evening when its quiet and gives her time to paint.

“I can just chill and be creative – its nice and quiet,” Holly says.

Holly has also spent time teaching art to other people, including a blind friend, which gave her a challenge when it came to how to explain each step.

“I really had to think about how to explain each part of what we were doing and that was really interesting to have to think about it all in a new way.”

Holly has undertaken commissioned art pieces where people have a special request for what they would like, or for a special occasion – and has also previously created art pieces for Christmas cards and birthday cards for the team at ConneXu.

“Art is like my own type of therapy, it is what has brought my mum and I closer together since we live apart, and it is my passion. I love colour and I love to be creative, and it gives me my own space. ConneXu has given me my own space and has given me choice and control over how I live my life – and that is really important to me.”

ConneXu feels like a family, she says.

“It has a real family feel and you can be supported with how you want to live and have a choice with that – other services didn’t let me live alone and that was all I wanted. They are pretty cool and listen to me and have helped me,” she says.

“It is important that you never give up on yourself and what you want to achieve. You have to put your mind to it, and with ConneXu supporting me, I can achieve what I set out to do.”

ConneXu works with their disabled partners to create a whole of life plan of how they want to live their live, and the goals they want to achieve.

“I have recently achieved another goal I had set which was to save enough money to buy a new iPad and I did that. Now I am working towards my next goals.”

Sitting in the background watching on with a smile is Holly’s support worker Rebecca Pickering who says Holly is fiercely independent and definitely knows her own mind.

Banter filled with quick wit and giggles jump between the two effortlessly, as they talk about Holly’s new rainbow hair colours, her artwork and how she manages her Facebook page for it.

“My page is called Holly’s Original Art,” she says as she turns to Rebecca and quips “I better start uploading my new pieces of art then!”.