Paula B. Holtzclaw | A Soft Glow - Southwest Art Magazine

Paula B. Holtzclaw paints the peaceful places that inspire her

By Elizabeth L. Delaney

Paula B. Holtzclaw, Cicada Sunset, oil, 24 x 36.

This story was featured in the November 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art November 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

“THERE WAS never an aha moment when I realized that I wanted to be an artist,” says Paula B. Holtzclaw. “I just always was one. It was part of what made me me.”

Another part of what defines her is the southeastern landscape where she has spent her entire life—the ocean, the marshes, the coastline, the sunrays and thunderheads that surround and imbue, inspire and enrich. Holtzclaw channels her dual enchantment for painting and nature into gleaming landscapes that glow softly in the sultry air, harnessing light as it amplifies the land and sky and reflects off the water into unseen, infinite dimensions. Her compositions are at once expansive and intimate, revealing the power of nature to be concurrently intense and serene.

“The joy and interest in art has always been with me,” says Holtzclaw. Her desire to create showed up early when, as a child, she sat with her mother, watching her draw figures and copying them in her own small hand. As she grew, young Paula sought out art books and magazines, devouring every page, and she continually requested drawing and painting supplies for birthday and holiday gifts. Both of her grandmothers painted, and her paternal grandmother often set up paints and canvases for the children when they came to visit—something Holtzclaw now does for her own grandchildren.

: Paula B. Holtzclaw, A Brand New Day, oil, 24 x 20.

: Paula B. Holtzclaw, A Touch of Lace, oil, 16 x 20.

: Paula B. Holtzclaw, Harvest Time, oil, 20 x 24.

Holtzclaw attended Western Carolina University, and although she took art classes there, she didn’t feel called to pursue it as a career. After college, she had a brief stint in finance before taking a job manufacturing contact lenses, which provided her with a creative outlet and the means to work with her hands. “I was fascinated with this—taking a raw substance, molding and lathing and polishing it, and ending up with this tiny piece of plastic that would actually give someone vision,” she says. She continued on in the ophthalmic field, took time off to raise her children, and eventually worked her way up to a managerial position. But her desire to create never left her, and she spent whatever free time she could find making her own artwork.

In time, friends and relatives began to commission paintings from Holtzclaw, and it wasn’t long before she was entering local exhibitions and seeking out venues to hang her work. By 1995, she was showing in a Charlotte, NC, gallery, and just a few years after that her paintings were hanging in a Charleston, SC, gallery as well. By 2002, the pieces had fallen into place for Holtzclaw, and she left her corporate career behind to paint full time. “It was the natural progression of things,” she says of the transition, which allowed her to finally focus all her time and energy on the passion she had carried with her since childhood.

“HAVING GROWN up in the South, there is so much inspiration, I sometimes feel like I am going to burst if I don’t get it all out,” Holtzclaw remarks. Indeed, her body of work largely depicts scenes from her native region and bursts with the heady stillness unique to the area. She frequently travels from her home south of Charlotte along the southeastern coastline, spending most of her time in the Carolinas and Georgia, taking inspiration from water and sand, marshes and mud, and dramatic displays of clouds and sun.

: Paula B. Holtzclaw, Meditations, oil, 35 x 45.

: Paula B. Holtzclaw, In Silence, oil, 30 x 40.

: Paula B. Holtzclaw, Spring Camellias, oil, 20 x 24.

“If I had to describe my art, I would say it is traditional fine art in a realistic impressionist style,” says Holtzclaw. “My intention is not for a photographic image, but rather to evoke a quiet sensory emotion, a moment of contemplation, an atmosphere.” Her compositions often feature vignettes that display a natural contrast, such as hazy sunrises and saturated sunsets, or nocturnes bathed in the soft luminescence of moonlight. “I love the moodiness that can be created during these times of the day,” she explains.

Holtzclaw has always been particularly taken with the ocean, and as such, it is central to many of her pieces. She comes by it naturally, as the daughter of parents who both loved water and a father who spent time in the Navy. More than that, she feels like it’s simply a part of her—just like her love of art, it’s something engrained in the deepest part of herself. She says, “Every time I see the ocean, smell the salt air and the pungent pluff mud of the marshes, it has a calming and centering effect on me—a coming-home moment.” Such an effect is what her paintings are said to produce. Often described by viewers as calm and peaceful, Holtzclaw’s landscapes elicit a placid, unforced ease.

Old barns, farmland, and other places where nature and man-made structures coexist also speak to Holtzclaw. Such places, she recognizes, are fast disappearing in a world consumed with the notion of progress through construction and commercialism. In these places, she seeks to impart each scene’s inimitable sense of place, and the sensory experience of being present there, among the flopping fish, chirping crickets, or twinkling lightning bugs. In doing so, Holtzclaw can record and impart her experiences to viewers, while also preserving a moment in time and making the case for that moment to live on, for that place to remain untouched.

: Paula B. Holtzclaw, Conroy’s Country, oil, 24 x 36.

: Paula B. Holtzclaw, Early Summer, oil, 16 x 20.

: Paula B. Holtzclaw, Creekside View, oil, 30 x 40.

She says, “I think it goes without saying that the preservation of our environment and sustaining the health of our planet is critical for us and our future generations. I often think about the Bible verse ‘to whom much is given, much will be required.’ I feel the role of an artist is important because the footprints of an artist stay with us, generation after generation. An artist has the ability to create, document, and impart the beauty of this world around us. I am aware and thankful every day that I am able to experience the joy of creating my art.”

HOLTZCLAW LIKES to spend time in the places she paints, to commune visually and spiritually with what in-spires her. All of her large-scale studio paintings begin outdoors as small paintings, sketches, photographs, or even memories. Keeping up a strong plein-air practice is important to her because she believes it keeps her physically and emotionally entrenched in the landscape. It “wakes up” her eyes, she says, and yields truer, more complex colors.

Back in the studio, Holtzclaw enjoys working at night, in her own quiet space where she can ruminate and create in the solace of the day’s end. She paints in oils on panels, starting with larger, looser shapes and working down to the details of each scene. And details are important to her—even in the frames surrounding her paintings. “I put a lot of emphasis on my choice of frames, using hand-carved custom frames,” she explains. “I believe the frame speaks to the value of the painting, and many collectors know a good frame when they see it.” Every piece is unique from top to bottom—handmade and personal. She even uses flowers fresh from her garden when the mood strikes to paint a still life.

: Paula B. Holtzclaw, Harvest Moon, oil, 24 x 30.

: Paula B. Holtzclaw, Luminescence, oil, 35 x 45.

: Paula B. Holtzclaw, Moonlit Whispers, oil, 24 x 30.

Holtzclaw draws energy and fulfillment from interacting with fellow artists and stays heavily invested in various aspects of the art community, not only as a painter but also as a student, juror, and nonprofit board member. She has taken workshops from such nationally noted artists as Scott Christensen, Joni Falk, Linda Glover Gooch, and Jeff Legg and regularly participates in paint-outs and group critiques.

She also has been involved with American Women Artists, an organization “dedicated to the inspiration, celebration, and encouragement of women in the arts,” and served on its board from 2012 to 2019. Of special importance to her is the “25 in 25” initiative, which she helped implement in 2017. This project started with a goal of procuring 25 museum exhibitions for women artists over the next two and a half decades, growing the number of works by women artists exhibited by and in the collections of museums across the United States. Earlier this year the group held its fifth show in the series at the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, GA. “I truly believe that belonging to groups such as this heightens inspiration, increases knowledge through symposiums and workshops, and causes us to ‘raise the bar’ of our own work,” says Holtzclaw. “I belong to many national groups, and it is through these groups that I feel my art has grown.”

Thus bolstered by her sense of community, Holtzclaw seeks to use her creativity to convey both the eternal beauty and ephemeral mood of each place she paints, to put into visual terms the atmosphere and emotions that pulse in-side and radiate out from the elements therein. Though she captures moments in time, she also harnesses the timeless, universal aspects of the natural world—its magnificent aesthetic, its intrinsic value, and the important role it plays in all our lives. She reminds us of the need to sustain it, just as it sustains us in body and mind. She writes, “I choose to paint what is beautiful and meaningful, knowing that this act of celebrating and communicating the beauty in this world has the power to uplift and inspire.”

representation
Anderson Fine Art Gallery, St. Simons Island, GA; Cheryl Newby Gallery, Pawleys Island, SC; Highlands Art Gallery, Lambertville, NJ; Hughes Gallery, Boca Grande, FL; Providence Art Gallery, Charlotte, NC.