Martha Holden

I attended the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, afterwards the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfiled Hills, Michigan.

I have always been fascinated by the power of color to create a visual play by association of pattern, harmony and rhythm. The tools I use are a combination of techniques including painting, printmaking and drawing.
I have had the good fortune to travel and live in different cultures.
At a certain time I wished to leave the solitude of working in my studio. I decided to explore painting with oils outdoors. Being in nature with all of my senses awakened, I burst open using colors that vibrate with my happiness. The rich colors of the oils spurred me to work spontaneously, without hesitation. I lived in France at that time and created a series of landscapes based upon the views that I found in the outskirts of Paris, France.
The powerful river Marne, trees, forests or a quiet pond gave me inspiration. Re-reading my paintings, absent of human form, made me once again question my solitude. I decided to draw after the human model. The beauty of a three dimensional subject, a human with all their expression made me anxious to work with this new freedom. I continue to alternate between figurative and abst...

University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan