1976–

Dawn Holder is a sculptor and installation artist who moved to Clarksville in 2011 after accepting a position as an assistant professor at the University of the Ozarks. She had previously worked as adjunct faculty and ceramics technician at the University of Hartford in Connecticut. A native of Boston, Mass., and a graduate of the University of Georgia and the Rhode Island School of Design, Holder found Arkansas to be a new environment.

She became involved with the Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts when she participated in Women to Watch: Organic Matters. Her work Monoculture was included in the NMWA exhibition in Washington, D.C., from June 5 to September 13, 2015, and her installation Once Upon a Time in the Forest of I’m Not Sweet Enough… was in the Arkansas Women to Watch: Organic Matters exhibition, which toured throughout the state following the Washington exhibition.

“My selection process was a bit unique, as I exhibited different works in the Arkansas and NMWA venues,” said Holder. “The theme Organic Matters resonates strongly with my practice, which often explores plant and nature imagery. Curator Courtney Taylor selected my installation Once Upon a Time in the Forest of I’m Not Sweet Enough… for the Arkansas exhibition. Inspired by fairy tales and the cloying sweetness often expected of Southern women, the piece featured a wintry forest of birch trees, early spring flowers and cattails — all adorned with chocolate bark, sugar, cotton candy and large handmade pools of hard candy.

“As a curator, I found Taylor to be someone who embraces unusual material choices and who does not shy away from projects that are complicated and time-consuming,” Holder said. “I never would have imagined that I would have funding and support to show this installation of porcelain and sugar in 10 venues across the state of Arkansas. This touring show was a labor of love, and I appreciate the help and support of the statewide venues and the Arkansas Committee members who gave their time to organize, move, install and promote the show as it toured.

“This large, complex installation presented some unusual challenges for a museum setting like NMWA — particularly concerns about attracting pests,” said Holder. “Fortunately, to my knowledge, there were no issues during the subsequent Arkansas tour. Instead, NMWA curator Virginia Treanor felt my porcelain grass would be a good fit for the Washington exhibition. Overall, it was an exhilarating honor to have my work selected. I didn’t mind presenting different pieces at each venue. In fact, I think it allowed for broader exposure of my practice.”

Monoculture is one of several pieces made up of green glazed porcelain blades of grass Holder created over a decade. She hand-delivered her porcelain lawn installation because it was so delicate and required precise handling, and she spent several days unpacking and setting it up. She compares her repetitive artistic process of making thousands of pieces of grass to the suburban obsession with cultivating the perfect lawn.

Holder said she was surprised and thrilled to see images of her work wrapped around the museum’s exterior walls and entry doors when she arrived at NMWA.

“I had sent several photographs to the marketing team, including close-up details, but I didn’t know they had been chosen for the campaign. It was incredibly exciting to see my work highlighted so prominently,” she said.

Holder had an opportunity to go behind the scenes at the museum and connect closely with the curators and staff. “Everyone was generous with their time and insight,” she said. “I asked many questions about packing and shipping and studied some of the museum’s professional crates, gaining knowledge that later helped me build effective crates for my porcelain forest installation as it toured Arkansas.

“Around the opening of the exhibition, I met many of the other artists, gave a talk about my work and participated in events and tours,” she said. “It was deeply inspiring to connect with other artists, learn about their practices and see the diverse interpretations of the exhibition theme.”

Holder left Arkansas in 2021 and now serves as director of visual art graduate programs and associate professor at Indiana University’s Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis.

 “Over the past decade, my work has become increasingly research-based,” said Holder. “I now frame my creative practice through an understanding of how social, cultural and political values shape our environmental impact. My work has been selected for competitive juried exhibitions and high-profile curated shows, and I’ve received awards, grants, commissions and international residencies.

“The NMWA exhibition was a turning point — it was one of the first times I was meaningfully compensated for my time and creative labor,” she said. “Since then, my practice has become a more consistent part of my income and professional life.”