Black Settler, Oregon Frontier

Artist Statement:

MFA painting, University of Texas at Austin; BFA, painting, summa cum laude, The Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. I paint what interests me. Painting, for me, is a form of possession; whether it’s a landscape, a thought, or a sensation, if a painting is “true and real” one can somehow possess the original idea by the truthfulness of its painted equivalent. Art history informs my work as well as direct observation of nature regardless how it is deconstructed afterward. Formalist principles of composition, light, color and line are supreme guides. My paintings are physical creatures that take up space and are tactile, from the wood panels to the swirling oil paint. I make the panels myself, the process of sanding and sawing encouraging incidental mark-making that becomes a part of the final image. The paintings have a physical presence more like sculpture than painting, to be encountered as a physical object. Oregon is a geologically amazing place. From the Pacific coast to the Columbia River to the high desert landscapes in the east, its variety of physical properties creates a diverse agriculture. Encouraged by tales of plentiful riches, especially along the Willamette Valley, early European settlers made the arduous westward journey, built homes, grew crops and raised livestock. Oregon was a welcoming destination for white people, but heavily discriminatory against others. In spite of the abolishment of slavery in 1865, the first black female landowner, Letitia Carson, was not granted her land claim until 1869. -Fran Holt, 2024 Port Ludlow, WA