1999 Signed “Sensaku Viii” Mixed Media Wall Assemblage by Juliet Holland

A 1999 found object mixed media assemblage wall sculpture titled, Sensaku VIII, signed by American artist Juliet Holland (1937-2017). Composed of reclaimed organic material, the sculpture features layers of paper, sand, plaster, and canvas. Predominately black, the assemblage displays blended blue, green, and brown hues with accents of splattered red and dark blue. A woodworm fragment is attached to the center of the piece separating an intentionally scratched, gouged, and carved bottom. The piece is signed, dated, and titled verso.

Born in Wellesley Hills and Duxbury, Massachusetts, Juliet Holland (1937-2017) moved on from her life as a suburban wife, mother, and social hostess and began her art practice in the 1960s. Holland’s adult life was spent between two chosen homes; for more than 35 years, she lived between an apartment at Bleeker and Broadway in New York City and a tiny fisherman’s cottage in Saugatuck Shores, Connecticut. Her technique mirrored her dual landscapes and incorporated rich layers of sand, paints, clay, powders, metallics, and natural elements, which were built up, then scratched and scraped back down, creating layers — evoking time.

Holland showed in over one hundred one-person and group exhibitions between 1981 and 2018. Her work is held in museums such as the San Antonio Museum of Modern Art, Reading Public Museum, as well as a number of corporate and private collections. Holland was a co-founder of Art Bridge, a program that established an artist exchange between Japan and the United States for twelve years. In addition to being an artist and businesswoman, she worked as a curator of several exhibitions and was on the board of directors of Lamia Ink!, a non-profit organization dedicated to the arts.