“Refuge, Here Birds Rest” by Holly Lane
Holly Lane’s “Refuge, Here Birds Rest”: Blending Frame and Painting into a Multi-Layered Allegory
In “Refuge, Here Birds Rest,” Holly Lane combines a traditional painting with an ornate, architecturally inspired frame, creating a multi-genre work that defies easy categorization. This piece, measuring 10 inches wide, 32 inches high, and 6 inches deep, showcases Lane’s talents as both a skilled painter and masterful woodcarver.
The elaborate artist-crafted frame (not a found object) is inspired by Gothic cathedrals and Classical design with its pointed arch, decorative spires, and delicately carved details. However, Lane puts her own spin on these historical styles, constructing a structure that serves as more than just a decorative border. The frame becomes an integral part of the artwork rather than a “boundary” for containing the art, acting as a contemplative “environment” and “informing context” for the painting.
Inside this architectural frame, the painting depicts a dreamlike twilight marsh scene. Painted in acrylic, the subtle hues of pink, blue, and gold in the sky recall the Romantic traditions of landscape painting and the technical mastery of the Northern Renaissance. The elongated vertical format of the painting accentuates the distance between the evening sky and the silhouetted marshland below. This interplay between the heavenly and the earthly, also suggested by the frame’s church-like architecture, suggests a blending of physical and psychological spaces.
The work’s title, “Refuge, Here Birds Rest,” adds layers of meaning to the piece. The marsh setting, a habitat for birds, is a literal sanctuary, while the frame’s architectural elements imply the spiritual “shelter” of a church or holy place. The “refuge” referenced by the title is not just a physical place, but a mental and emotional space where the material and the mystical coexist. Lane’s unique cross-genre work exists in a liminal space, one that speaks to both our environmental awareness and our spiritual longings.
— Sawyer Rose