Ekua Holmes (born in 1955) is an American

mixed-media In visual art, mixed media describes artwork in which more than one medium or material has been employed. Assemblages, collages, and sculpture are three common examples of art using different media. Materials used to create mixed media art inc ...

artist, children's book illustrator, and arts organization professional. Holmes' primary method of art making is mixed media

collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

, by layering newspaper, photos, fabric, and other materials to create colorful compositions. Many of these works evoke her childhood in Roxbury's Washington Park neighborhood in

Boston, MA Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Early life and education

Ekua Holmes was born in

Roxbury, Massachusetts Roxbury () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Roxbury is a Municipal annexation in the United States, dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for ne ...

in 1955. Holmes holds a BFA in Photography from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Fine art career

As a young artist, Holmes discovered the power of

found object A found object (a calque from the French ''objet trouvé''), or found art, is art created from undisguised, but often modified, items or products that are not normally considered materials from which art is made, often because they already hav ...

s, which derive their identity as art from places as well as the social histories attached to the objects. She uses found newspapers, magazines, old stamps, and so on. She often creates patterns using these materials. Childhood, family bonds, memory, and resilience are frequent themes in her work. Many of Holmes's collages are reminiscent of works by African and African American artists such as the late

Romare Bearden Romare Bearden (, ) (September 2, 1911 – March 12, 1988) was an American artist, author, and songwriter. He worked with many types of media including cartoons, oils, and collages. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden grew up in New York C ...

Jacob Lawrence Jacob Armstead Lawrence (September 7, 1917 – June 9, 2000) was an American painter known for his portrayal of African-American historical subjects and contemporary life. Lawrence referred to his style as "dynamic cubism", an art form populariz ...

, and Njideka Akunyili. Like these artists, her works reflect a commitment to Black imagery and representation. About her work, Holmes said,

“In everything I create I hear them saying, ‘Remember Me,’ and through my work I honor their legacies by bringing them forward to life with torn and cut shapes of found colors and textures. With these scraps and remnants, assembled like a down-home quilt, I rebuild my world, putting in what speaks to my personal and cultural narrative.”

Google Doodle

Martin Luther King Jr. Day Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., and often referred to shorthand as MLK Day) is a federal holiday in the United States observed on the third Monday of January each year. King was the chief spokespers ...

in 2015, Holmes's

Google Doodle Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running annual Bu ...

illustration honoring the civil rights leader was the featured image on Google's U.S. homepage. The collage depicts King walking arm in arm with fellow activists in

Selma, Alabama Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. Abou ...

Arts organizations

Holmes founded The Great Black Art Collection, an organization dedicated to both giving a platform to emerging artists and to introducing Black art to previously unreached audiences. Holmes is currently Vice-Chair of the Boston Arts Commission. Holmes is also currently working in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

as an assistant director at the Center for Art and Community Partnerships at MassArt. There, she manages sparc! the ArtMobile.

Illustration career

Holmes has illustrated several children's picture books, garnering awards for several. *'' Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement,'' written by Carole Boston Weatherford (Candlewick Press, 2015) *''Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets'', by

Kwame Alexander Kwame Alexander (born August 21, 1968) is an American writer of poetry and children's fiction. Personal life and education Alexander was born in Manhattan, New York, and grew up in Virginia. His father was a scholar and book publisher and hi ...

with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth (Candlewick Press, 2017) *''The Stuff of Stars'', by Marion Dane Bauer (Candlewick Press, 2018) *''What Do You Do with a Voice Like That?: The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan'', by Chris Barton (Beach Lane Books, 2018) *''Black Is a Rainbow Color'', by Angela Joy (Roaring Brook Press, 2020)

Exhibitions and collections

A selection of works from her award-winning children’s book illustrations is on view at the MFA Boston as part of a 2021 solo exhibition titled,
Paper Stories, Layered Dreams The Art of Ekua Holmes"
These works consist of collages and original illustrations from Holmes’s published book projects. Holmes' first exhibition was in 2000, at "Renewal and Regeneration" at Museum of Our National Heritage, Lexington, MA. She has also exhibited at Hess Gallery of

Pine Manor College Messina College is an undergraduate constituent college of Boston College. Until 2020 the school was an independent private college in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts referred to as "Pine Manor College" (PMC). The school was founded in 1911 as a p ...

, Chestnut Hill, MA, and Harvard Medical School's Transit Gallery. Her work is in the public collections of the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, Boston Medical Center, Boston Arts Academy, Dana Farber Cancer Center and the

Boston Children's Hospital Boston Children's Hospital (formerly known as Children's Hospital Boston until 2013) is the main pediatric training and research hospital of Harvard Medical School, Harvard University. It is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care children ...

. Holmes'
Crosswalks and Bus Stops
" was installed at Northeastern University, in oversize glass windows that faced onto Parker Street and Huntington Avenue. The work was part of Northeastern'
Public Art Initiative
, a platform for artists from the local community and the world.

Awards

In 2013, Holmes was awarded the

NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. The over 40 ...

. '' Voice of Freedom'' won a

Caldecott Honor The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

, a Robert F. Sibert Honor, John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Nonfiction Honor. Holmes was awarded the 2018 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for '' Out of Wonder'' and the 2019 award for '' The Stuff of Stars''. Holmes was the recipient of a 2013 Brother Thomas Fellowship from

The Boston Foundation The Boston Foundation is a community foundation established in 1915. Serving the city of Boston, Massachusetts, and environs, it is made up of nearly 1,100 separate charitable funds established by donors over more than 100 years. Funds are set u ...

. Also in 2013, Holmes was named to the Boston Art Commission, which oversees public art projects on city property. In 2015, she installed a community-based work for an opening at the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, which consisted of a gigantic interactive collage with scenes of Boston in transition, designed to complement the ICA group show, “When the Stars Begin to Fall.”

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Ekua 1955 births Living people American contemporary artists Massachusetts College of Art and Design faculty Massachusetts College of Art and Design alumni African-American artists 21st-century African-American artists 20th-century African-American artists Artists from Massachusetts Caldecott Honor winners Coretta Scott King Award winners