Welcome, I appreciate your interest in my work. My name is Xima Lee Hulings and I am an artist living and working in the south. I was born in Georgia but have moved all over the globe from New York, Tokyo, Connecticut, North Carolina, San Fransisco and am now finally settled in Nashville. I think of myself as a commited southerner and that sensibility shows up in the stories I’m eager to explore through my artwork. What it means to be a southerner is open to countless interpretations and I have many! But for me the connection to family, the memories we interpret all our lives, the plants and earth we feel around us are the cornerstones of my continued interest. In general I would characterize myself as a figurative or landscape painter but honestly I would prefer to say that I am an artist who believes deeply in process and, as a result, different stories demand different materials for their expression.

Early in my childhood I was drawn to the built environment and studied architecture as a graduate student. For about 20 years I worked for corporate firms and finally in my own small office for clients who shared their needs and desires for a bespoken home. I moved from the world of architecture (my first creative love) to working as a full time artist about 15 years ago. Architecture still plays a critical role in my process but so does drawing, painting, sewing, ceramic and printmaking. If the starting point is to tell a unique story, then I use all the tools available to me that bring it to the forefront. Currently I’ve been working with encaustic paints which are made from combining bees wax, damar varnish and pigments to make fluid paint. It has transformed how I feel about layers and control…there isn’t much! It is like being set free without the worries of straight lines, fixed points and the ever pesky perfection.