Reaching for the stars is exactly what Holden Willard, 2017 WHS graduate, did.
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| Windham High graduate Holden Willard of Raymond stands next to his painting being displayed at the Portland Art Museum. SUBMITTED PHOTO |
“I have always drawn from a young age; I can remember drawing constantly in sketch pads, on the walls, and on cardboard sculptures I would make throughout the house,” said Willard. “For many years, I did not fully accept that I could be an artist, until Jeffrey Bell at Windham High School pushed me to follow my dream and had me try painting when I was 17. That changed everything.”
Becoming an artist was always a dream for Willard.
“It was an unrealized dream for so long as a kid,” he said. “I knew deep down I wanted to create, but I needed that kick from someone other than my parents to tell me I had it in me. Now it feels as simple as breathing air or going on a walk. I just make paintings about life, and I feel as though I will never stop. In my core, it brings me the greatest joy imaginable.”
For Willard, it started as a child, as a hobby at first, something to do that made him happy other than reading or being outside. But when he went through Bell’s WHS AP studio art course, he knew that he needed to make art at some point.
“When I left WHS, I attended UMaine Orono for one year and then transferred to the Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts,” he said. “It was there that I studied with serious professors and learned from an education that was steeped in the American Modernist tradition of painting. When I was 19, I told myself, why not just apply to group shows around Beverly and begin showing work? And that’s exactly what I did. I remember applying to my first ever group show and getting in. It was all the way down in Cape Cod, and I was bringing a self-portrait with me that I made in my foundation year at art school.”
Willard took this chance, not knowing that this was the very beginning of a long life of traveling for shows and being an independent working artist.
“It felt incredible to show work, and I remember I won some 1st place award from that show, and it was my first time in a gallery,” he said. “I had mixed emotions, mainly because I felt as though I did not deserve it.”
He kept working at his art, learning new techniques and getting better.
“Where I am at now because of art is totally unimaginable,” he said. “But I have worked hard for it, I have two jobs, and I run a non-profit art gallery in Portland called 82Parris. Not only has art changed my life, but due to my passion for it, I also hope to extend that to other creatives in the region. We are just getting ready for our third year of programming with openings every first Friday of the month. My best advice for those interested in doing what I do is to go for it and do it because you love it and know that life would be too boring to not follow your passion.”
Willard currently exhibits at an art gallery in Camden called Page Gallery as well as a gallery in Brussels, Belgium called Edji Gallery.
“I am also beginning to work with a gallery in Shanghai, China called Nan Ke. Believe it or not, these connections have come through having and posting on Instagram,” Willard said. The social media landscape is confusing and has only gotten more complicated since I joined in 2014, but I have been posting ever since, getting my work out there.”
According to Willard, he believes that art is important for everyone, and that being creative is innately human and integral to expressing our emotions about and for life.
“What is more special than making something that has your essence in it? This goes for making things as well, anything that requires your thought and input creatively. That is why I make paintings and build things; it just makes sense to me; it’s important because it makes me happy.”
His inspiration comes from everyday life experiences. He paints about his boyhood in Maine, his coming of age from that, his friends, and narrative scenes that speak to youth as a larger whole.
At 5:30 p.m. April 4, Willard will be part of a ‘Painting in Play’ art talk at the Portland Art Museum, where he, along with fellow artists Meg Hahn and James Parker-Foley, will be talking about method, process and inspiration. Admission is free every first Friday at the museum and the show ends April 27.
“This show of 14 of my fellow peers showcases work of younger emerging artists who all have a connection to Maine in some way,” said Willard.
This will be Willard’s second showing in a museum like this. In 2023, he was selected by a jury to be in the CMCA Biennial that year.
“I wish I could paint full time, but for now, I work at my jobs and then find the time to paint,” he said. <
