The Colby Echo

Issue date: 4/29/09 Section: Features

Media Credit: courtesy of anne holt

The Camden Falls Art Gallery in the coastal town of Camden, Maine showcases the work of artists from all over the country in its cozy space above the harbor. Its walls are hung with impressive watercolors of summer mornings in Maine and sweeping canvases with stormy nautical scenes. However, the artist whose work the gallery has the most trouble keeping in stock is a former resident of Waterville's Mayflower Hill and an up-and-coming landscape painter: the College's very own Anne Holt '05.

Holt has sold her oil paintings in the Camden Falls Art Gallery since her senior year at the College, when the gallery's owner showed interest in her work. "It gave me a great start," she said, adding that the opportunity to show in a smaller gallery meant that she could display more of her paintings at one time. As with most businesses in summer tourism hot spots, however, the gallery is seasonal. Holt began looking for additional venues in which to show her work and places in which to gain experience outside of the summer months.

An art major, Holt spent her first year upon graduating from college working for a graphic design firm in Gloucester, Mass. "I didn't have a specific pathway in mind before graduation," she admitted, but felt that graphic design might be a good place to start. "It was a great experience," she said of her first job, "but I discovered that visual art is more of my focus."

The desire to establish herself as an artist led Holt to Boston, where she spent two years working in a high-end clothing store and honing her painting skills on her own time. She found that living in a city was not as conducive to furthering her career as the thought it would be. "It's harder to find your niche in such a big place," she said, adding that the experience, where her art was concerned, "was pretty frustrating at times." Last Fall, Holt moved across the country to Steamboat, Col., where she currently resides.

"I love it here," she said enthusiastically. "It's such a laid-back and accepting place to be." Holt works for a co-op gallery in town, where she and her fellow artists/co-owners work a few days a month in exchange for showing and, hopefully, selling their artwork. She cited the flexible schedule as helpful in allowing her to work at other jobs and save money, as the art world can be notoriously unstable financially, especially for beginning artists. Presently, Holt works in the publications department at the Lowell Whiteman School, a college preparatory school in Steamboat Springs. She also offers art classes to children and adults in mediums ranging from oil painting to sculpture.

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