Kendra Sollars is an Arizona-based multimedia artist whose immersive video projection installations, photography, and performance explore the interconnected relationship between humans and the natural world. Working across video, projection, photography, and installation, her practice examines themes of ecology, water, memory, and environmental stewardship, often using her own body as a subject and metaphor.
Sollars received a B.A. in Art from The Ohio State University in 2009, where she also won two National Championships as a member of the varsity synchronized swimming team. Following graduation, she worked as head choreographer for the Arizona Desert Dolphins before joining Cirque du Soleil's O in Las Vegas as an Artist/Athlete from 2011 to 2012. Her background in synchronized swimming continues to inform her artistic practice through an emphasis on movement, the expressive potential of the human body, and the unique visual qualities of the underwater environment.
Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Venice Biennale, the National Museum of Wildlife Art, Grand Rapids Art Museum, Hudson River Museum, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, Gibbes Museum of Art, The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art, Tempe Center for the Arts, and Mesa Arts Center.
Since 2013, Sollars has collaborated with artist Lauren Strohacker on Animal Land, an ongoing series of large-scale projection installations exploring human relationships with wildlife and the environment. The project received the Contemporary Forum Emerging Artist Grant from Phoenix Art Museum in 2014 and the Artist Research and Development Grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts in 2015.
Sollars lives and works in Tempe, Arizona.
Thinking about Civilization and its Creaturely Discontents, The Arts Beacon, artist feature, Grant Vetter, July 2016
'Animal Land' Art Project Puts Vanishing Native Species in Perspective, Los Angeles Times, Artist Feature, Liesl Bradner, Sunday January 10, 2016
Arizona Commission on the Arts Grants Fund 14 Innovative Projects, Jackalope Ranch: The Phoenix New Times Culture Blog, artist feature, January 2015
2015 Arizona Biennial Spotlights Phoenix Artists at Tucson Museum of Art, Phoenix New Times, Published Installation, Lynn Trimble, July 17, 2015
"Chaos Theory" Has Gone From Funky to Formulaic at Legend City Studios in Phoenix, Jackalope Ranch: The Phoenix New Times Culture Blog, Artist Review, Lynn Trimble, October 2014
Time for Chaos Theory 15!, Arizona Foothills Magazine, Artist Feature, Nicole Royse: October 2014
100 Creatives: Kendra Sollars, Jackalope Ranch: The Phoenix New Times Culture Blog, Artist Feature and Interview, Becky Bartkowski: September 2014
100 Creatives: Lauren Strohacker, Jackalope Ranch: The Phoenix New Times Culture Blog, Photo Feature, Becky Bartkowski: June 2014
Blue House Coffee Art Blog, Artist Feature and Interview, Sam Beger, May 2014