Label
Lonnie Holley (b.1950)
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Holley began creating his art in 1979 after a house fire tragically killed two of his nieces. Holley believes that divine intervention led him to create his artwork, and thus a deep faith underlies many of his works. In the beginning, Holley constructed his sculptures primarily out of industrial-grade sandstone, but later expanded his materials to include discarded wire, scrap metal, and wood. By the mid-1980s, Holley branched into painting influenced by West African, Egyptian, and Pre-Columbian era artwork.