Sean Hollis was born in Burlington, Ontario in 1966 and was raised on what was then the outskirts of Toronto, in North York. His passion for painting and photography began at the age of 12. In 1989, Sean graduated from the Fine Arts Department of the Ontario College of Arts and Design, majoring in drawing and painting. Since then he has continued to study outdoor subjects through 'plein-air' painting in oil and photography - paying special attention to the elusive influence of light on his subjects. He feels his formal training at OCAD was of great value, but it is the extensive time spent in the field researching and visually documenting his subjects that has taught him the most.