Curlee Raven Holton
Curlee Raven Holton is a painter, printmaker, and the founder of Raven Fine Art Editions. Holton has been exhibited professionally for over 25 years in more than 30 one-person shows and more than 80 group shows. Holton uses artmaking to understand and find meaning in some of life’s most perplexing issues. His prints speak to our human experience, and through the lens of his African American heritage, he brings voice to significant personal, political, and cultural events.
“I have created self-portraits for two primary reasons. The first is to capture a version of myself that is revealing and penetrates my own journey of self-reflection. The second reason is to discover deeper personal insights and understandings, and to make this awareness a part of my everyday consciousness.” - Curlee Raven Holton
Holton’s work is a commentary on issues that impact society, including race, poverty, political concerns, isolation, and class, using symbolism and provocative figurative representations to engage viewers in a shared dialogue. Although also known for his paintings and drawings, it is fitting that Holton chose printmaking to express some of his most socially charged work. Printmaking has a rich history of political use. Prints can be produced in multiples and, therefore, can be dispensed to a wide audience.
"Hands Up Nimbus was created as a tribute to young black men. There is a trace of my own blood at the lower corner of the shirt's pocket. This denotes the residue of violence seen and unseen. The golden halo represents the honoring of the subject's value. Before halos were religious symbols, they represented heroism and valor as well as the unique value of each individual. The primary image is done in watercolor with the hands in gray with white space. This segmentation of the image refers to barriers that perpetuate black vs white encounters.”
“Spinning Glory is a companion piece to Hands Up, Nimbus. The female figure is caught in the maelstrom of life and protesting against societal barriers of race and gender. She taps into her own divine power and shares her sense of bliss and power from her fingertips, sending her illuminated force into the world around her. The composition with the portion of her hands outside the color space represents a temporal worldly existence. As we become more conscious of our essential power and spirituality, we are transformed.”
Holton earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1987 from the Cleveland Institute of Fine Arts in Drawing and Printmaking and his Master of Fine Arts degree from Kent State University in 1990. Since 1991 he has taught printmaking and African American art history at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, and is the founding director of the Experimental Printmaking Institute.
His work is part of public and private collections, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, The Discovery Museum of Art and Science, Connecticut; the West Virginia Governor’s Mansion; the Foundation of Culture Rodolfo Morales, Oaxaca, Mexico; Yale University Art Gallery; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Pennsylvania; and the Library of Congress.