The Figge Art Museum presents a Virtual Artist Talk with robin holder -- November 18.
Thursday, November 18, 6:30 p.m.
Presented by the Figge Art Museum
A socially engaged artist known for her multi-layered work addressing such important issues as cultural inequity, social justice, and the complexities of identity, robin holder will discuss her experiences as a studio artist and assistant director at Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop in a virtual artist talk hosted by Davenport's Figge Art Museum, with the November 18 event also featuring the artist discussing the impact her experiences had on her career and creative and personal lives.
Born in Chicago in 1952 and raised in New York City, robin holder (who works under the lowercase spelling) is the daughter of an African-American Episcopalian father and a Caucasian-Russian Jewish mother, and the communities she engaged with from an early age were focused on social issues and political activism, making her conscious of the apparent gendered, racial, religious, and socio-ecomonic disparities. Holder received a scholarship to the Art Students League of New York in 1969, and after graduating from the institution in 1971, moved to Mexico and spent time creating art. From 1976 to 1977, she also worked at the Amsterdams Grafisch Atelier studying lithography, and then became the assistant director for Robert Blackburn's Printmaking Workshop in New York City until 1986.
After leaving her workshop position, holder went on to become a master teaching artist at the Studio in a School and a resident artist educator at the Children's Museum of Manhattan until 1989, when she received a grant from the Manhattan Graphics Center. She was then sponsored by the New York State Council on the Arts in a residency program with El Museo Del Barrio, and from 2004 to 2006, Holder trained art teachers on how to utilize the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts program. Holder received the Individual Visual Artist Grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council in 1999, and two years later, she was a selected artist for the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation's Artist As Catalyst program in 2005 and a guest artist at the Temple Visual Arts Festival. Holder was also an invited artist at the Experimental Printmaking Institute and Lafayette College in 2011, and some of her works are featured in the Figge's current exhibition Robert Blackburn & Modern American Printmaking, on display through January 9.
The virtual artist talk with robin holder begins at 6:30 p.m. on November 18, registration is required for the free event, and participants will receive a Zoom link to the presentation two hours before the program starts. For more information, call (563)326-7832 and visit FiggeArtMuseum.org.
