Join us on Tuesday, August 20th, for a discussion with Dr. Curlee Raven Holton of Raven Fine Art Editions, the guest curator of Printmaking and the Unconventional Pathways of African American Artists. An eminent artist, master printmaker, scholar, and educator, Dr. Holton will share his love of the printmaking medium, the spirit of collaboration that it fosters, and his work with the artists in the exhibition, to understand and enrich their creative expression.
Unspoken conventions of class and prestige limit our national conversation. The goal of the Pathways Speakers Series is to encourage a deeper conversation about ourselves, each other, and how we choose to live together.
The Pathways Speakers Series is made possible by a grant from CT Humanities.
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Curlee Raven Holton is a printmaker and painter whose work has been exhibited in more than fifty one-person shows, and over one hundred group shows. His exhibitions have included prestigious national and international venues like Egypt’s 7th International Biennale, Taller de Artes Plásticas Rufino Tamayo in Oaxaca, Mexico, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Holton’s work is in many private and public collections including: the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Allentown Art Museum, the Discovery Museum of Art and Science in Bridgeport, Connecticut; the West Virginia Governor’s Mansion; the Foundation of Culture Rodolfo Morales in Oaxaca, Mexico; Yale University Art Gallery; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Cornell University Rare Books Collection, The Library of Congress; Boise Art Museum, Philadelphia Art Museum, U.S. Embassy, Costa Rica, Federal Reserve of Washington DC., and The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
Holton’s work has been featured and written about in more than fifty publications. As part of his research and study as an artist-scholar, he has lectured and presented demonstrations throughout the United States and abroad in Mexico, the West Indies, Japan, England and Costa Rica. Holton has been an artist in residence at museums, colleges, and universities. He has presented over hundred public lectures on the subjects of his own work, African American art, and contemporary printmaking. He has written numerous articles and essays on art and artists that have been published in catalogues and journals.
Many of Holton’s artworks have been published in magazines, newspapers, and documented on television. He has received awards and grants for his creative research and artwork, which has been described as both powerful and graceful. The breadth of his visual investigations has included traditional and innovative approaches to his art making process. Holton’s mastery is demonstrated in his manipulation of diverse mediums and techniques including printmaking, drawing, painting, and bookmaking.
Holton earned his M.F.A. with honors from Kent State University and his B.F.A. from the Cleveland Institute of Fine Arts in Drawing and Printmaking. Since 1991 he has taught Printmaking and African American Art History at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania and is also the founding director of the Experimental Printmaking Institute. In 2006 he established Raven Fine Arts Editions, In 2012, Holton was named the David M. and Linda Roth Professor of Art at Lafayette College. His awards include, The Anyone Can Fly Life Time Achievement Foundation Award,2015. Honorary Doctorate Institute Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts,2017, Linny Artist of the Year Award.PA ,2018. He recently retired as the director of the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland.