Holabird, Jean 1946-

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Holabird, Jean 1946-

PERSONAL:

Born December 3, 1946, in Boston, MA; daughter of John Augur, Jr., and Donna Katharine Holabird. Education: Bennington College, B.A., 1969; has also attended Columbia University and the Arts Students League. Politics: Democrat. Hobbies and other interests: Environmental issues, literature.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY. Office—81 Warren St., New York, NY 10007. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Artist. Guest lecturer at the School of Visual Arts, Parsons School, Cooper Union, and Pratt Institute, New York, NY, 1975-79; Catherine Mosley Studio, New York, NY, assistant printer, 1981-82; St. Marks Poetry Project Newsletter, New York, NY, art editor, 1987-90. Has exhibited at group shows in New York, NY, and in Mexico.

WRITINGS:

Out of the Ruins: A New York Record: Lower Manhattan, Autumn 2001, Gingko Press (Corte Madera, CA), 2002.

(Illustrator) Vladimir Nabokov, Vladimir Nabokov, Alphabet in Color, Gingko Press (Corte Madera, CA), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS:

Jean Holabird is an artist and resident of lower Manhattan and, like many New Yorkers, was profoundly affected by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Living only a few blocks from the World Trade Center where thousands died, Holabird made daily pilgrimages to the site of Ground Zero following the terrorist attacks, and chronicled the clean-up process through her art. The result was a series of sketches and watercolors that reveal the trauma, pain, and devastation so prevalent in the area. The images range from cranes and other rescue equipment to American flags. Holabird told Maria Puente in an article for USA Today.com: "The ruins were so moving and iconic and said everything that needed to be said about the barbarity of bombing." Holabird combined the paintings with bits of poetry and prose after a publisher friend saw one of the sketches and encouraged her to publish them. Out of the Ruins: A New York Record: Lower Manhattan, Autumn 2001 collects Holabird's visual and emotional chronicle of the recovery process as a memorial of sorts. Wendy Lukehart, in a review for the School Library Journal, called the work "sobering, solemn, provocative, probing, hopeful, celebratory," as well as "a quietly paced opportunity for introspection." Holabird combined her art with the writing of Vladimir Nabokov in Vladimir Nabokov, Alphabet in Color, consisting of selections from Nabokov's book and Holabird's own illustrations, based on Nabokov's claim that he could "hear" color. A reviewer for Small Press Bookwatch called the book a "unique and original study."