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Autobiography
Gloria Holden was born in North Yorshire, United Kingdom and studied in London for a number of years.
After teaching in the UK she moved to South Africa in the mid-60's and started a very successful teaching and commercial pottery studio, which she ran for many years.
She returned to painting in the late 60's and now has a number of works in private collections, both locally and internationally. She has lived in Africa for over 30 years and has a deep love for the land and the animals that inhabbit it. Her inspiration is drawn from the spirit of Africa, its vast beauty and many contrasts, and it is this spirit, which is captured in her work.
Gloria also continues to teach jewellery and ceramics at the National School of the Arts on a part time basis, where she encourages the use of design that is inherently African.
"The paintings on exhibition are based on sightings, perhas just glimpses, of animals and the world around me, some 'real' and some perceived on other levels. They are not accurate and nor was that the intention, but are rather based on impressions on how I or the creature felt. Some works are more conceptual and others somewhat dreamlike. The landscaes are often composites. The Sun and the Moon seem etched in my consciousness and keep popping up!"