Artist and pillar of the Bloomington/Normal art community, devoted husband, father, grandfather, professor, mentor, musician, band member, constant rider, and friend, Ken leaves behind a legacy rich with art, music, and friendship. And hats, lots of hats.*
Kenneth was born September 11, 1936, in Heald, Texas, the son of Dwight and Fahoma Ladd Holder. He spent his childhood in Amarillo, Texas, the eldest of four, playing with Gene Autry paper dolls and drawing horses. The artist Georgia O’Keeffe was Superintendent of Art and a teacher in the Amarillo public schools where Ken was eventually educated, creating an indelible mark on his evolution as an artist. Ken graduated with the class of ‘59 from T.C.U., in Fort Worth, TX, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. It was there he met Joe Dulle, and they forged a life-long friendship that endured for 63 years.
Ken then served his country for four years in the United States Army; he was Ranger before he was an Officer in the infantry stationed in Aschaffenburg, Germany. (It was there he discovered Bob Dylan’s first album and taught himself to play guitar!) Upon his return, he was accepted at the Art Institute of Chicago, graduating in 1965 with an Masters of Fine Art in Drawing and Painting. During this period, he married Janice Michener, his college sweetheart; legend has it that her cranberry nut bread was his Achilles' Heel.
Holder began his teaching career at Western Illinois University in Macomb. Four years later (1969), he joined the art faculty of Illinois State University as a Professor of Painting and Drawing. He was an Administrator and Head of the MFA Graduate Program when he retired 29 years later, in 1998, as Professor Emeritus. One of several artists (including Harold Boyd and Harold Gregor) with a downtown Bloomington studio, Ken Holder worked mainly in acrylics and watercolors. Some of his later works became somewhat three dimensional, as he incorporated collages of torn paper, scraps of hardened paint, and even tree branches. A native of the Texas Panhandle, the vast landscape of his youth, including the wild and colorful Palo Duro Canyon, had a direct and dramatic influence on his entire artistic output. His oeuvre spans various styles and subjects, including an epic four-year project focused on modern day views along the entire Lewis and Clark trail. Holder will forever be remembered for his signature large-scale panoramas, in addition to specific series including "Painting Holders", “Cage Paintings”, “Studio Rodeos”, "Constant Riders", “Posses and War Parties”. He also leaves behind myriad sketchbooks and an impressive collection of Southwest (Cowboy + Indian + Hispanic) artifacts. Holder constantly challenged himself as an artist and he continued to mount shows at RAMP-ARTS (300 E. Grove Street), where he had a studio in the building and indulged in wonderful friendships. An exhibition he installed this past November, “Diamond Garden”, remains on view there until the end of the year.
Ken’s artwork enchanted visitors at various gallery and museum exhibitions nationwide for over five decades, including the McLean County Art Center. The Bloomington art venue, cometogetherspace, held a 40 year Retrospective+Sale Exhibition which was beautifully covered in The Pantagraph, May 7, 2015.
WGLT aired/posted a tribute to Ken’s recent passing, with links to past episodes about the artist on their website.
Holder’s paintings are in numerous private and prestigious public collections including the Central Illinois Regional Airport, the Illinois State Capitol Building - the result of a 1989 permanent mural commission, the Illinois State Museum, Krannert Art Museum, Eiteljorg Museum, Illinois Building, Chicago, Museum of South Texas, Heartland Community College, JC Penney Corp., the BNSF Railway Company, and Senator Dick Durbin’s Illinois Art Collection. Ken was a recipient of a Ford Foundation Grant in 1964 and a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship in 1981-82. He served on the board of the National Watercolor Society. His work is reproduced in numerous publications, including the cover of ‘Roadside History of Illinois’ (Mountain Press, 2013).
Holder was a founding member of The Old Men Boys, a six person slow-folk band that played regular gigs at Epiphany Farms restaurant, the Bloomington Farmers’ Market, and other venues around Central Illinois. Ken was known as “Banjo Boy”; playing alongside his wife, “Jandolin”, his yodeling and harmonica riffs were hallmarks of his performances. Quoting the singer Michelle Shocked, Ken liked to say, “Music is too important to be left to professionals.”
Ken was an affectionate and loving father to two daughters who survive him: Jenni (Sebastien Bouafia) Holder of Lyon, France and Laura (Khoi Vinh) Holder of Brooklyn, New York. Through their eyes, he parented as he lived ... with confidence, humor, humility, generosity, patience, perseverance and hugs. He was a proud and engaged Grampa who loved to spend time playing musical instruments with his five grandchildren. (Between acoustic guitars, banjos, an electric guitar, steel guitars, mandolas, a mandocello, an accordion, harmonicas and ukuleles, there were more than enough to go around!) In between their visits to "Blue Mountain" (their nickname for their grandparents' home), Ken enjoyed Face-Timing with Tallulah and Jasper, in France - and Thuy, Lafayette, and Tex, in New York. In the summer of 2017, Grampa (aka Bumpa or G’Pops) treated them all to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. After decades of listening to WGN broadcasts while painting, or watching them on TV while playing guitar, living to see the CUBS win the World Series in 2016 was a devoted fan’s dream come true.
Ken is also survived by his brothers, D’Alton (Pat) Holder of Arizona, and Wayne (Lillie) Holder of Texas; his brother in law, Harold Knudsen in Texas; handfuls of nieces and nephews, and a host of loving friends. Kenneth was preceded in death by his parents, and his only sister, Ramona Knudsen.
Per Kenneth’s wishes, cremation rites have been accorded. A private funeral will take place at Eastlawn Funeral Home; a public memorial event is scheduled for mid to late April, 2019. Memorial contributions may be made to McLean County Arts Center, the ISU Foundation, Doctors Without Borders, or The Nature Conservancy. Updates about the memorial event, “Remembrance Rodeo”, will be announced here as information is available.
PEACE & LOVE EVERMORE was Ken’s last Facebook post on November 30, 2018. We are confident in conveying his everlasting love for his family-like-friends & friends-like-family, his former students, fellow musicians, colleagues, artists ... and, well, insert a bad banjo joke here. (Or that one about keeping your worms warm.) Thanks y’all. Finally, we’d like to remind everyone of a message Ken left for those who climbed the very steep flight of stairs up to his Main Street studio; on the front of the very top step, he had painted one word: PERSEVERE.
Photo Credit: Matissa Gregor
*If Ken was truly bowled over by a particular work of art, he would throw down his hat and “stomp” on it … or, depending on his hat that day, at least describe the piece as being worthy of such a gesture!
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