Artist Joseph Holston is obsessed with color: deep blues complimented by rich yellows, dramatic splashes of crimson, bright orange and striking violets.
In his most recent exhibit Holston uses all of these colors to compose a 50-piece sequence of paintings, drawings and etchings titled, “Color in Freedom: Journey Along the Underground Railroad.” “Color in Freedom” captures the majestic familiarity of Africa, the horror of enslavement, the drudgery of slavery and the courage of escape.
Holston found his journey through the underground railroad, which he did for the exhibit, to be emotionally taxing. “Creating this exhibit, it was quite an experience for me. I really tried to travel back in time and feel what my ancestors had felt,” Holston says.
“Color in Freedom” debuted in November of 2007 at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC). The exhibition is currently in Muncie, Ind., until May 2009.
Works by Joseph Holston are included in numerous museums, institutions and private collections. Among these are the permanent collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art; the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis, Md.; the Butler Institute of American Art; the Museum of Art at the Rhode Island School of Design; the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts; and the Yale University Art Gallery.
He has also exhibited and been a guest lecturer at Bowling Green State University, Delaware State University, DePauw University, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Howard University, the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Villa Julie College and the Visual Arts Center of Northwest Florida.
