Sisters Holly and Ashlee Temple create their artwork together by a fluidly collaborative system. Holly lives and works in Philadelphia; sister Ashlee lives and has a studio in San Francisco, but comes to Philadelphia every month to collaborate in person with Holly. The symbiotic nature of their work methods, and the joint identity by which they present it, is such that one might assume they are twins, but they are in fact 3-1/2 years apart in age.

Their work begins with a notebook: each writes ideas and puts down individual prep work in the book, which is sent back and forth throughout the month they are apart. Concepts are firmed up during daily phone talks, and then the final work – mixed media and collage work that often incorporates 19th century illustrations and photographs — is completed during a week together in Philadelphia.

The format of their work has definitely been effected by location: during their many years living together in a small New York apartment, they worked on a very small scale out of necessity (as Ashlee describes it, “working out of the bathtub”); recently, with a more spacious studio in Philadelphia’s Kensington section, they have been able to switch to larger works on canvas.

Holly & Ashlee Temple will be showing and selling their small works on paper, collage works, and canvases at InLiquid’s “Art for the Cash Poor” event (June 9 & 10 at the Crane Arts Building, 1400 N. American Street). For more information on “Art for the Cash Poor,” visit www.inliquid.com

1. What brought you to Philly?
Holly: My husband is getting his PhD from Penn, and he and I have been here for four years. All three of us lived in New York together for a long time, and then when I got married I lived in London before coming here.

2. Is there a place in Philly that inspires you?
Holly: The museum [Philadelphia Museum of Art], definitely, we go there a lot. There are so many really important works at the museum. Right now we’re working on halos, and are about to visit the Renaissance section to study how they worked in the gold halos, with all of the beautifully detailed textures and colors.
Ashlee: I agree — the museum. In the Spanish colonial art show recently, there was a particular color of orange that kept appearing, and it is something we are using in our work right now – along with the gold.

3. Why do you think Philly attracts artists?
Holly: It’s a very cultural city, near New York but rent is much cheaper. Many New York artists are coming here just for the space. There are also many big galleries, and the museum is just incredible. It’s really a hidden cultural center that a lot of America doesn’t know about.
Ashlee: The space is amazing compared to New York. Even compared to San Francisco: my space there is about a quarter the size of Holly’s studio here, but I pay more.

4. Can you describe your work for us?
Holly & Ashlee: Well, on one hand we find it hard to put our work into words and hope that it stands on its own with a visual language. But we guess we would say that first and foremost we create work that we simply enjoy looking at. As sisters we find that what inspires us and what we are drawn to is often eerily similar. We are often mystified as to who first suggests a particular idea or project. Did I tell you? I thought I told you? Didn’t you mention that? You told me that? Did I dream that? I was just talking about that! or variations thereof is sort of how conversations during the work tend to go. And of course much of it is not spoken at all. It is just understood.

The question that people most often ask us is, if it is hard to collaborate with someone else; and though we are so often asked this we are always sort of perplexed by it. We actually find it easier to work together. There is always someone to bounce ideas off of and see things anew. We work very seamlessly together. We find the collaboration with each other to be a very integral part of the work, which we think is often reflected in the collaborative media of the piece itself. Of course working like this requires a huge amount of trust and a deeply similar aesthetic. An aesthetic that can only come from us being as close as we are. From being sisters.

Visit Holly & Ashley’s gallery on the In Liquid website.

Art for the Cash Poor: June 9th & 10th
Crane Arts Building
1400 N. American Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122
www.inliquid.com