Chai Style Art: Chicken Artist Struts Out Her House of Whimsy

After three houses, two husbands and a lifetime of living, Sheila Holtz’s home is an explosion of her personality.

A mélange of Country French, Biltmore House style, Pierre Deux with turn-of-the-century quilts, German antique clocks, Italian hand-cut wooden mirrors – works by mingling American history with bold clashes.

Pushing the art envelope, Holtz combines well-placed intensely hued rugs with “in your face” folk art, alongside her own original chicken paintings. Former real estate agent and energetic grandmother Holtz has flourished style in her DNA and takes some risks to “walk on the wild side.”

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“Mom was born a fashionista. She’s a cross between Madonna and Iris Apfel,” chided daughter Pam Morton, director of author events for the Book Festival of the MJCCA.

I.D.E.A. Gallery owner Amy Spanier said, “I sell every chicken painting Sheila does, within days, sometimes hours. She also does chicken commissions for gallery clients.”

Learn about Holtz’s art cache.

Photos by Heidi Morton // Sheila Holtz’s art studio is her “chicken coop.” She has mastered the feather details and shadows. Gallery owner Amy Spanier states that she sells Sheila’s chicken paintings as fast as she can produce them.

Jaffe: How in the universe did you decide to paint chickens?

Holtz: Chickens just make us smile. I’ve painted Bad Hair Day chicken; the Gabor sisters (Zsa Zsa, Eva, Magda) chickens; Jack Spratt and his wife; The Naked Chicken; Where the Sun Don’t Shine Chicken … to name a few. It’s a form of my expression and art. There is great effort in getting the detail of the feathers and shadows just right.

Jaffe: You have a penchant for clocks?

Holtz: I spent three years in Germany and developed an appreciation for well-made timepieces. I have grandfather and grandmother clocks. I’m especially keen on clocks that are constructed from found and recycled materials. I have several made by R. Michael Wimmer. Since we were in the military, objects were shipped back at no charge.

Jaffe: Who are some of the most unusual artists you collect?

Steve Terlizzese specializes in maximalist conglomeration of tile, glass, and pottery. The master bedroom fireplace shows his Blue Willow mantel clock. The dishes around the clock are discontinued antique fine china patterns.

Holtz: I love working with Steve Terlizzese in his Chattanooga atelier of mosaic sculptures. This blue willow clock has great deal of detail. It’s a blend of tile, glass and pottery. He also did the mosaic mirror frame in the guest room that reads, “You Are Not Looking at the Center of the Universe.” His portfolio states that he specializes in the audacious by creating “maximalism,” which is the opposite of minimalism: gathering, collecting, contrasting common objects, … “any other damn thing that’s shiny.”

Also on the self-taught and/or folk side, I have rooms of Jack Poppitz, Susan Goodman, and Walter Cade III. I have a Rosie Clark collection with clever monikers like “Fast Buck,” “Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato and Hippo on Bun,” “Owlegant,” and “Bear Aspirin.”

Great Room: The deer head made of canvas strips presides over a custom-limestone mantel. The sconces are porcelain hands holding candles with MacKenzie-Childs cut glass lamp shades. The andirons are from a store on Lake Burton. The cranberry rug is Obsidian.

Jaffe: How do you integrate your lighting?

Holtz: Lighting speaks volumes. The chandelier in the master bath is made from pearls. The bedroom chandelier wreath is 1960 cut crystal. Some beautiful hues are achieved by using rose gold bulbs.

I bought lamp shades in Vermont. In the lower level is a lamp made from an antique trumpet. I have a Spanish dancer lamp.

The living room chandelier has Chinese influences made out of tin and porcelain.

Walter Cade III constructed this mixed media collage featuring a gorilla and tenement building from a core of photographs.

Jaffe: What are some of your eclectic pieces?

Holtz: The hooked rugs by Vermont weaver Claire Murray are special.

In the master bath, I have a permanent wedding cake. Probably by far the most outrageous is “Robert Johnson King of the Delta Blues” modern primitive by Jack Poppitz. He lays out his interpretation of the male African-American experience with painted phrases like “Shiftless Drifter,” “Lived off Women,” “Got Mean Drunk.”

I replaced some standard doors with antique glass and wooden doors I picked up at Lakewood.

Holtz’s “Zsa Zsa” Chicken Painting

Jaffe: How do you categorize your animal pieces?

Holtz: On the stair landing is an original oil painting of a deer by Bolton, the original pair of antique King Charles Spaniel oils by Lee Kennedy are above the master bed, and fox candlesticks flank the main fireplace. Owls, goats and bears are all embedded in art. The focal point of the great room is an antlered deer head, which is not taxidermy – it’s constructed from painted canvas strips. I found it years ago at the Slotin Folk Art Fest. It presides over a custom designed limestone mantel.

The dining room chandelier is a Viking ship figurehead mounted on elk horn antlers with filigree wrought iron.

Holtz reshapes and mounts repurposed pieces and gemstones into wearable art.

Jaffe: What is your connection to jewelry making?

Holtz: Although my pieces start at a popular price range, I use rough cut emeralds, jade, rubies and gemstones mixed with repurposed items like sweater clips, 1940s cut glass, real crystal, and antique Royal Masonic pins (1946) set in bronze or sterling. Often, I use material from Morocco or the Far East.

Jaffe: Why do you lean towards folk art?

Holtz: Think of all the “tongue in cheek” expressions and bold declarations it holds:

“Never Buy a Car You Can’t Push,” “This Chair is the Seat of All Wisdom,” “Honor Thy Mother ‘Cause She Has Done More for Thee Than All Others” “Eat, Drink, Remarry” – you can’t get any more clever than those!