bio

John Holdway returned to Eugene in 2002. Currently represented by Opus6ix Gallery in Eugene and Bella Perla Gallery in Portland. He was selected for the national exhibition "Beauty Revisited" at MT Scott Art Center in Portland. In January 2004 he was featured in a solo exhibition at Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts (DIVA). He won the Peoples Choice award in the Pacific Northwest Art Annual at the University of Oregon in 2004 and was selected for Eugene's Mayor's Art Show in 2003 and 2005.

A Maryland native, Holdway grew up near Washington, DC. Holdway began studies at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore in 1986. In the middle of his college career he took six years off to travel and earn money for his education. He traveled through Europe and Australia and worked all over the United States including as a worker in a salmon cannery in Alaska and a outdoor leader for juvenile probationers on backpacking trips in the Gila wilderness in New Mexico. Holdway graduated from MICA with a Bachelor of Fine Art in Painting in 1996.

After graduating, Holdway and his wife left Baltimore and headed west. In Portland, Holdway connected with artists Ken Romer, Brenna Harris and John Harper. Led by Harper they formed the Westwind Project, a group dedicated to supporting artist of all sorts. Westwind hosted numerous events including art shows, concerts and poetry readings.

Holdway lives with his wife Michelle in Springfield, Oregon. He is also an art instructor who has taught art for children and adults in many venues including Johns Hopkins University and Pacific Northwest College of Art. In Eugene he teaches painting at DIVA and Maude Kerns Art Center .