Holly Frakes is a studio artist based in the historic West Bottoms neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri. Originally from Topeka Kansas, Holly studied interior design and later fine arts at Kansas State University, receiving her BFA with a focus in painting in 2023.

Her artistic talent was recognized during her time in university, having received the Anderson Ranch Partnership Scholarship (2023), Chapman Mellethin Fine Arts Scholarship (2022, 2023), and Oscar V Larmer Scholarship (2022, 2023). Frakes’ understanding of design, which is integrated into her work, was also acknowledged through placing first in the Midwest 2022 IDEC Design Competition.

Beyond her two scholarship shows and BFA Group Exhibition, Frakes’ work has been shown at an undergraduate show at Labette Community College (2022) and a juried undergraduate group exhibition at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum in St. Joseph, Missouri (2023). She will be attending the New York Academy of Art Summer Residency Program on scholarship in summer 2024.

Frakes’ artwork focuses on the feelings of isolation and solitude created by modern architecture and organization. The viewers' perceptions, anxieties, and feelings of control are manipulated and sympathized with through an innovative use of space and light.