b. 1999
Holden Willard is a painter based in Portland, Maine. He graduated from Montserrat College of Art in May of 2021 and received his BFA in Painting, however his interests serve multiple mediums: printmaking, performance, collage & woodworking. His work is concerned with imagery that reflects the environment in which he lives. Being primarily a figurative artist he strives to portray the experience of the everyday – through the lens of friends and family. He is mainly striving towards creating a dialogue between the past, present and future. These are essential devices for him that he utilizes to create a coming of age narrative in rural Maine. Images from home, adventures of youth, fears and anxieties expressed through eyesight and posture – all in an effort of saying the unsaid.
“The work included in this body is either from my personal collection to my parents or has never shown before from my own inventory. In addition there is a collage work, which introduces the compositional thought process I have towards formatting a painting. The work goes from 2024 to 2021 which encompasses change and introduces through-lines from the past three years.”
Q. If you could offer your younger self any advice at the start of your artistic career, what would it be?”
A. “My biggest advice is to be confident about your work. When you’re confident about what you’re making, work hard, and make an effort to convey your passion with tenacity & fervor… I personally believe anything is possible.”