The Figge Art Museum presents a virtual artist talk with Curlee R. Holton -- November 4.
Thursday, November 4, 6:30 p.m.
Presented by the Figge Art Museum
The recipient of an Honorary Doctorate in Art and Philosophy from the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the visual arts, painter and printmaker Curlee R. Holton and his estimable works will be showcased in a virtual artist talk hosted by the Figge Art Museum, the November 4 event held in conjunction with the Davenport venue's current exhibition Robert Blackburn & Modern American Printmaking.
A highly regarded professor, painter, and master printmaker himself, Holton has exhibited his work throughout the world. His paintings, drawings, and prints are held by major museums and collections in the United States and abroad, and his most recent solo exhibition, Journey: The Artistry of Curlee Raven Holton, was held at the University of Maryland University College. Holton earned his MFA from Kent State University with a concentration in printmaking, and his BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Fine Arts in drawing and painting. He served as the David M. and Linda Roth Professor of Art at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, where he taught printmaking and African American art history, and Holton also founded the Experimental Printmaking Institute, its vision to provide artists with the time, space, materials, and professional support to create new work. This vision was consequently realized with more than 200 works produced, and in 2014, Horton was appointed executive director of the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora at University of Maryland, College Park.
In 2015, Holton received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Anyone Can Fly Foundation, a prestigious prize annually bestowed to an individual who has demonstrated a lifetime’s worth of singular, impassioned dedication to the mission of enriching and making known the history of African American art and culture. In presenting the award, Foundation President Faith Ringgold wrote: “Too few people know and understand the continuing problem of pervasive anonymity master artists of the African diaspora face in the mainstream art world. So many masters of African American art have lived their lives as artists devoting time, energy and innovation to enriching the great history and culture black people in America have developed and then die, often in poverty, alone and in anonymity. The great works they leave behind are known primarily to those of us who search for them.”
The Figge exhibition Robert Blackburn & Modern American Printmaking celebrates a key artist in the development of printmaking in the 20th century and the artistic community that he created. Blackburn was an influential teacher and master printer who engaged with avant-garde ideas while promoting a new collaborative approach to the printmaking medium, and the exhibit showcasing his talents features approximately 60 artworks – among them lithographs, woodcuts, and watercolors – that trace Blackburn’s artistic evolution from figurative work to highly colored abstraction alongside the art of his contemporaries.
Curlee R. Holton's virtual artist talk begins at 6:30 p.m. on November 4, participation is free, and registrants will receive a Zoom link two hours before the program begins. For more information, call (563)326-7832 and visit FiggeArtMuseum.org.
