Artist Curlee Raven Holton creates artist book for HSP’s Artist in Residency program
- jbarrett479
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 3 hours ago
Curlee Raven Holton, founder and master printmaker of Raven Fine Art Editions, is serving as HSP's 2025 Artist in Residence. His new artist book, The Sublime Narrative of Self-Emancipation, draws from HSP’s abolitionist collections and the rich traditions of Black spirituals in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society (PAS).
The cover of the book includes a flap that opens at the point in the image of broken shackles. The text that forms the background is from William Still's Journal C of the Underground Railroad. Each page includes a serigraph on one side with textual image of a spiritual on the other. Pages are interleafed with images of documents from HSP's collection on vellum.
Holton's residency at the Historical Society involved looking at many collections, primarily those of the PAS. These documents provided inspiration for Holton to explore the narrative of self-empowerment as demonstrated by enslaved Africans and their free brethren to deploy strategies of self-liberation. For example, examples of both Black literacy and Underground Railroad routes appear as images in the book. Furthermore, each page includes lyrics from a traditional Spiritual to offer narrative structure to the book and to represent the deep spiritual, intellectual, and moral worth of those self-emancipators.
“I chose to express this personal and collective redemptive act of self-liberation with eight images that represent the story of self-emancipation of the African American slave and a context for their humanity, creativity, and resilience,” Holton explains. In addition, images of HSP’s documents appear on translucent vellum interleafed between the eight prints and spirituals.
Curlee Holton is a printmaker and painter whose work has been exhibited internationally and nationally in over 40 one-person shows and over 100 group shows and is held in the collections of a dozen major art museums and galleries. Holton has received awards and grants for his creative research and artwork, which has been described as both powerful and graceful. The breadth of his visual investigations has included traditional and innovative approaches to his art making process. Holton’s mastery is demonstrated in his manipulation of diverse mediums and techniques including printmaking, drawing, painting, and bookmaking.
In addition to teaching in the studio art program at Lafayette College, Holton also founded the Experimental Printmaking Institute at the school, where dozens of established and emerging artists took part in residency work, made art, and taught. He has served as the Director of The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora at the University of Maryland. Holton founded Raven Fine Arts Editions in 2006 as an independent, commercial studio supporting artist projects as an entry to the art market and museum collections. He currently serves on HSP's Board of Councilors.
Librarian and CEO David Brigham shares, “It is exciting to see the ways that Curlee Holton has delved into the collections at HSP for historical evidence and inspiration, and to see the way he has synthesized letters, broadsides, music, and other 18th and 19th-century expressions into a culturally rich and resonant series of prints and a powerful artist book.”
Dr. Ashley Jordan from the African American Museum in Philadelphia spoke with Curlee Holton at the launch of the artist book at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Together, they explored artists' creative response to archival stories of resistance, resilience, and liberation that continue to shape our understanding of freedom and community today
Sublime Narrative of Self-Emancipation is offered in a limited edition of 15 artist books. Each of the eight images from the book is also offered on a 22"x30" print accompanied by its related Spiritual. The artist book is priced at $2,500, and individual prints are $1,800 each. (Complete set of 8 prints is $12,000.) Sales support the mission of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
