Former art teacher Lianne Hollander creates unique fall decor with Chinoiserie-style pumpkins.
Passion for art doesn’t stop at a certain age. Despite being retired, Lianne Hollander continues to create beautiful artwork by painting Chinoiserie-style designs on everyone’s favorite fall decorative vegetable — pumpkins. Her love of art has not faded with time.
Lianne is a retired art teacher, having taught elementary art for 32 years at Sycamore Hills Elementary School in Independence, Missouri.
“I was majoring in interior design at MU and then began working at a Girl Scout camp in the summer, and I just loved it,” Lianne says. “I never thought about working with kids prior to that. I loved my art classes, and I loved working with kids. I changed majors and never looked back.”
When Lianne moved to Jefferson City and married her husband, she planned to teach part time for two to three years. However, after her friend saw an ad in the paper and relayed the application, Lianne ended up teaching for an additional 11 years at Trinity Lutheran Middle School.
“I never would have known I would like teaching at middle school as much as elementary school,” Lianne says. She worked with many wonderful students.
“I actually had some really great kids. Several of them went into art, and some of them are teaching art now.”
Former weatherman and current Special Olympics Missouri marketing and communications director Zach Paul was a student of Mrs. Hollander’s. Lianne especially loved the middle schoolers’ quirky senses of humor.
Most recently, though, Lianne has mastered Chinoiserie. Chinoiserie is a Western style of art that evokes Chinese techniques and motifs, primarily depicting white and blue scenes of nature and landscapes. Lianne has always loved the colors blue and white together.
“I get a lot of inspiration from Chinese patterns and wallpaper designs in the Chinoiserie style,” Lianne says. “I had been seeing painted pumpkins online and in magazines, and I thought, ‘I could do that!’ I had time on my hands after I retired, and I made them for myself and my family. I saw what they cost, and I thought I could do that a whole lot cheaper.”
Lianne uses artist-grade acrylic paints and sealers with extra-fine paintbrushes, sometimes even using permanent markers and brush pens for the fine details.
“Sometimes, it’s a lot of detail, sometimes, it’s a watercolor wash, or it’s a combination of both,” she explains.
Friends who admire her creative touch have even asked her to paint china plates and platters, and she’s continued to experiment — recently crafting delicate papier-mâché Easter eggs finished with a layer of chalk paint.
When Lianne began posting her painted plastic pumpkins online, Jill Bednar, the owner of Southbank Gift Company, saw her post and contacted her with an offer Lianne couldn’t refuse: selling her very own pieces at the gift store.
“I was very honored,” Lianne says. “I felt like what I was doing was not really art, but was decorative.”
Outside of creating art at home, Lianne loves being a member of the Jefferson City Art Club and the Teacher’s Art Association.
“Jefferson City has a thriving group of artists here, and they’re very active,” Lianne says.
Although Lianne has helped teach art to countless students over the years, she still very much continues to gain a better understanding of art herself, always experimenting with projects and learning along the way.
It’s never too late to start learning how to create art or pick back up on an old project. Those looking for a bit of inspiration, or even just a lovely decoration for this fall, be sure to check out Lianne’s pieces at Southbank Gift Shop.