Tom Holdman (born April 8, 1970) is a

glass art Glass art refers to individual works of art that are substantially or wholly made of glass. It ranges in size from monumental works and installation pieces to wall hangings and windows, to works of art made in studios and factories, including gl ...

ist located in

Lehi, Utah Lehi ( ) is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. The population was 75,907 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, up from 47,407 in 2010, and it is the center of population of Utah. The rapid growth in Lehi is due, in part, to t ...

, United States. His works include the story telling stained-glass windows in the Orem City Library in

Orem, Utah Orem is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States, in the northern part of the state. It is adjacent to Provo, Utah, Provo, Lindon, Utah, Lindon, and Vineyard, Utah, Vineyard and is approximately south of Salt Lake City. Orem is one of the pri ...

; the

Roots of Knowledge ''Roots of Knowledge'' is a permanent stained glass display completed in 2016 at Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem, Utah, United States. The creation of the exhibit was designed and overseen by stained glass artists Tom Holdman and Cameron O ...

stained-glass window at

Utah Valley University Utah Valley University (UVU) is a public university in Orem, Utah, United States. UVU offers master's, bachelor's, associate degrees, and certificates. Previously called Utah Valley State College, the school attained university status in July ...

(UVU); and pieces for more than 50

temples A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church).Robinson, Doug
"Man with life-long stutter finds a voice through art"
''

Deseret News The ''Deseret News'' () is a multi-platform newspaper based in Salt Lake City, published by Deseret News Publishing Company, a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS ...

'', 15 January 2017. Retrieved on 12 January 2021.

Career

Holdman's interest in stained glass began in high school when a teacher acted as a mentor to Holdman's art. When he was 21, Holdman started a stained-glass studio out of his parents' garage and found patrons by traveling door-to-door. He founded Holdman Studios in 1988 in Lehi, UT. One of his first stained-glass works was for the Orem Public Library, funded by Karen and Alan Ashton, depicting classic children's fairytales and stories. Holdman describes his introduction to glass-art, "It’s a partnership of three — the artist, the glass and the light. You are only one-third of that partnership. I loved how the light interacted with the glass. It’s hundreds of pieces of art as it is affected by the sun. That captivated me."

Roots of Knowledge

Holdman's Roots of Knowledge is a 200-foot stained glass wall installation, located in UVU's Fulton Library. Completed in 2016, the project took 12 years to complete at a budget of $3 million. The wall includes depictions of

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...

Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. After escaping slavery, Tubman made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends, us ...

, the Berlin Wall, Stonehenge, the Millennium Falcon,

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...

, and

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

(holding a knife behind his back). It also contains real objects encased in glass including a Roman coin, a piece of meteorite, and a spoon from the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair."Gigantic $3m stained glass window charts history of knowledge"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 26 October 2016. Retrieved on 12 January 2021. After an exhibition in London ''The Guardian'' called it 'one of the most spectacular stained-glass windows made in the past century'.

LDS Church projects

While the

Palmyra New York Temple The Palmyra New York Temple is the 77th operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The intent to build the temple was announced on February 9, 1999. It was the first temple built in New York. The temple si ...

was under construction, the LDS Church asked Holdman to create a glass-art depiction of the

First Vision The First Vision (also called the grove experience by members of the Community of Christ) refers to a theophany which Latter Day Saints believe Joseph Smith experienced in the early 1820s, in a wooded area in Manchester (town), New York, Manchest ...

to be included in the temple. His work is also featured in the Manhattan New York,

Paris France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and Laie Hawaii temples. Holdman designed, created, and installed a four-panel depiction of Jesus Christ's life, miracles, and parables in the visitors' center of the

Rome Italy Temple The Rome Italy Temple is a Temple (LDS Church), temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Rome, Italy. The temple serves church members in Italy, as well as Malta, Greece, Cyprus, Albania, and parts of Romania. Thom ...

.Rappleye, Christine
"'Come Unto Me' shares images, scriptures and stories behind the stained glass window in Rome visitors center"
''

'', 9 March 2019. Retrieved on 12 January 2021.

Personal life

Holdman was born in Orem, Utah, and has spoken with a stutter since childhood. He attended Orem High School and UVU and served a

mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...

for the LDS Church to Dallas, Texas.

References

External links

Tom Holdman Official site

Roots of Knowledge: A Window into the History of Human Intelligence

UVU: Roots of Knowledge - From Start to Finish
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holdman, Tom 1970 births American glass artists Artists from Utah People from Orem, Utah People from Highland, Utah Utah Valley University alumni 20th-century American artists 21st-century American artists American male artists Living people 20th-century American male artists