Art by Curlee Holton Featured in Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit and Morris Art Museum

Professor Curlee Raven Holton works with students at the Experimental Printmaking Institute.

Two pieces of art by Curlee Raven Holton have been included in a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition, African American art 1950-Present, and Celebrating our Legacy at the Morris Art Museum in Morris, N.J.

Holton’s large-format 1993 etching “Bred for Pleasure” will be part of the Smithsonian exhibit, as well as the permanent collections of the Yale University Art Gallery and the David C. Driskell Center at University of Maryland. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the David C. Driskell Center and will travel throughout the United States beginning in the fall of 2012.

The 2011 print “Arrival,” an etching from Holton’s Othello: Re-Imagined in Sepia series, is part of Celebrating our Legacy. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Art in the Atrium (ATA) as a celebration of the program’s 20th anniversary. ATA is a nonprofit arts organization that exhibits and promotes African-American fine art throughout northern New Jersey. The exhibit runs through March 18.

“Bred for Pleasure” by Curlee Raven Holton

Holton’s Othello project is a series of 10 images re-imagining Shakespeare’s character in the context of contemporary awareness of issues of race, identity, and culture. The etchings will be part of the “Reflecting Venice” artists’ books produced by the Venice Printmaking Studio and were on display in Skillman Library’s Lass Gallery last semester.

Read more about Holton’s Othello series

Holton is the David M. ’70 and Linda Roth Professor of Art and founding director of the Experimental Printmaking Institute. His prints and paintings have been exhibited professionally in more than 40 one-person shows and more than 100 group shows, including prestigious national and international venues such as Egypt’s International Biennale; Taller de arts Plasticas Rufino Tamayo in Oaxaca, Mexico; the Cleveland Museum of Art; and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

“Arrival” by Curlee Raven Holton

His work is in many private and public collections, including Cleveland Museum of Art, West Virginia Governor’s Mansion, Foundation of Culture Rodolfo Morales in Oaxaca, Mexico, Yale University Art Gallery, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Library of Congress.

EPI was established in 1996 to promote research and experimentation within the print medium. Since its inception, the visiting artist and artist-in-residence programs have introduced students to artists from diverse cultural and social backgrounds. Their residencies have inspired print editions, experimental works, and artists’ books, which have been included in galleries and exhibits around the globe.