The Celebratory Road of Art Leads to
Zacatecas
by Shawna Graves
Laurie completed this mural ascross from the Santa Teresa de Jesus C atholic C hurch in Presidio, depicting the first celebration of C hristmas in Texas.
P
residio-based artist Laurie Holman
has painted on everything, from
traditional paper and canvas, to
skulls, car hoods, trailers, walls, the
“Welcome to Presidio” signs – you name
it. If a surface could be embellished, then
she most certainly put her brushes and
talent to work on it.
After completing a degree in art edu-
cation at Texas Tech, Laurie began apply-
ing for jobs as a high school art teacher.
“I love this area. I’d been coming down
here camping, and wanted a job in this
area,” she said.
The job search ended when she was
offered a position as Presidio High
School art teacher in 1994. The land-
scape and people of the borderlands have
lit Laurie’s art flame ever since.
She has had many opportunities to
explore the countryside on horseback as
a trail guide with Big Bend Ranch State
Park and on cattle drives. “Honestly,
those are some of my happiest and best
memories,” Laurie said.
It’s natural for this rural borderland
8
life to figure prominently in her work,
which depicts cattle drives, horses, scenes
from Fort Leaton Historic Site, adobe
houses, desert landscapes, and recogniza-
ble locals – from vaqueros to the leg-
endary Burro Lady.
“The one painting of Judy, the burro
lady, is probably the most popular one
for around here. She was eccentric and
was so mysterious!” Laurie said, elated,
adding, “The people are what makes this
place. And you can’t beat this scenery.”
But Laurie is a harsh self-critic.
“Everything I’ve done is not that great
because I don’t have time,” she conclud-
ed. She’s been busy living life, raising a
son in Presidio. “This is his time to
shine. He’s graduating. He’s such a great
man,” she bragged.
What energies aren’t focused on the
home front have been dedicated to her
teaching career, which extended into
offerings of free evening art classes for
community members. It left little time
for her to develop a portfolio, but it did
a lot to foster a community-wide appre-
Cenizo
Third Quarter 2018
ciation for fine art.
She has long channeled her passion
into cultivating an eye for art in her stu-
dents and is a great cheerleader of every-
day scenes unique to Big Bend and
Northern Mexico. What some take for
granted, Laurie recognizes as extra spe-
cial.
She has exceeded the expectations of a
high school teacher by tirelessly promot-
ing public shows of her students’ work,
helping students set goals and showing
off their talent.
“They LOVE having their work on
display for the world to see,” Laurie said.
Taking part in shows builds self-esteem
and gives students an active role in com-
munity beautification, she added.
In Fall of 2009, 11 of her students
had work displayed at the Saatchi Art
Gallery in London, England, with their
art representing the beauty of Big Bend.
More recently, Laurie’s classes partici-
pated in Big Bend Comicon with color-
ful illustrations of comic-book characters
and superheroes brightening the exhibit
halls at Sul Ross State University library.
There have been countless other shows.
All of this has made Laurie the go-to
contact for artistic talent in Presidio.
“Laurie is probably best known for
her promotion of the arts scene in
Presidio with the annual Arts
Festival. With very modest financial sup-
port and facilities that seemed to vary
from year to year, she was able to pull off
events that attracted top local artistic and
musical talent, as well as art-lovers from
all over the region,” Presidio Mayor John
Ferguson said.
The history of the Presidio Arts festi-
val began innocently enough. Laurie saw
some of the empty old buildings in
downtown Presidio as perfect locations
to showcase art. One year, she and some
other teachers took it upon themselves
to informally close down the road
through town – the only paved road at
the time – and have an art party. Texas
Department of Transportation put a
quick end to the festivities and that’s
when Laurie learned there were a few