An American Consciousness: Robin Holder's Mid-Career Retrospective

Jan. 21 - May 15, 2010

An American Consciousness: Robin Holder’s Mid-Career Retrospective featured 65 original works by acclaimed New York-based printmaker and art educator Robin Holder.  Throughout her career, Holder (b. 1952) has been recognized for integrating a layered process of image making while addressing issues such as race, gender, religion, and cultural diversity in the United States of America. Her self-reflective images are meditations on identities, women’s empowerment, and social realities. As the vivid, multilayered works in American Consciousness demonstrate, she draws from her identity as a woman of many ethnic, sociopolitical, and spiritual influences.

Using a multitiered approach, Holder layers subtle, often translucent colors, forms, textures, and vignettes, one over the other and creates works that are thought provoking and richly textured. Her unique approach to addressing the complexities of American identities results in images that are rooted in beauty and substance.

An American Consciousness: Robin Holder’s Mid-Career Retrospective was organized by the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora at the University of Maryland, College Park. Dorit Yaron, deputy director the Driskell Center was the exhibition curator. It was made possible through support of a special fund from the Office of the President, University of Maryland, and major support from the Maryland State Arts Council.