Robin Holder’s work has been presented in numerous galleries and museums:  The Parish Gallery, Washington DC; The Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta; The Stella Jones Gallery, New Orleans; The International Print Center, New York City; Hammonds House, Atlanta and Spelman College Museum and the Mobile Museum of Art. Ms. Holder has completed several large scale site specific public art projects for The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Connecticut State Arts Commission and New Jersey Transit. She was chosen by The New York Foundation for the Arts for the taping of a Public Service Announcement and featured in the premier segment of the We television series Cool Women, produced by Debbie Allen. In addition she was interviewed for the Hatch Billops Artist and Influences Archives. 
Holder received an Individual Visual Artist Grant by The Brooklyn Arts Council and was selected by The Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation for an Artist as Catalyst project in Philadelphia.

Her recent retrospective An American Consciousness: Robin Holder’s Mid-Career Retrospective travelled the nation and was on view at The David C. Driskell Center in Maryland, the Spelman College Museum of Fine Arts in Georgia, and the Mobile Museum of Art in Alabama.

Robin has been a STUDIO artist/instructor for over two decades. She recently spoke to us about her work with public school children and the impact it has on her own work. 

Robin Holder on her experience as a STUDIO artist/instructor and its impact on her work:

I really, really, really like kids. They are stimulating, energizing, truthful, welcoming, and loving souls. I enjoy working with them, listening to, and teaching them. I am also thankful for the opportunity of learning from them. Young people have an invigorating, innate sense of adventure, exploration, and magic. They are precious and unquestionably society’s most sacred and valuable resource.

Because my life and my artwork are so interconnected with a quest to define identity in contemporary culture and society, working as a STUDIO artist/instructor is a fluid, natural experience for me.

The networks with which I interact in the professional visual arts arena are a very specific culture with many assumptions of motivation and content. Strangely, it is a world that can, at times, be insular and rigid. By working in the NYC public school system I keep in touch with another layer of society. The fundamental kindness, humility, and compassion in the schools are refreshing and nurturing. Because of my relationships with my students and their families, I am more aware of the ever-changing culture and socialization of young people. My ability to communicate ideas, concepts, and techniques has been greatly enhanced by my interactions with the school administrative, custodial, cafeteria, and teaching staff.

Teaching has trained me to be a better listener.

Artwork by Robin Holder: