Alum Jenelsie Walden Holloway, advocate for African American art, dies at 89

Jenelsie Walden Holloway, 89, advocate for African-American art

By Rick Badie

For the Atlanta Journal Constitution

Jenelsie Holloway didn't allow her children to play with coloring books. She didn't want her two daughters to learn how to color inside the lines, to put hue to someone else' s creation.

She bought them plenty of paper, crayons, coloring pencils and other art supplies. Open your mind, she'd say. Draw your own figures and scenes.

Express yourself.

"She  wasn't interested in us having a preconceived notion of what things should look like -- right or wrong," said her daughter, Charnelle Holloway of Atlanta. "She thought a lot about the things we would play with and the exposure she would give us."

It was the same approach Mrs. Holloway took to the performing arts. She exposed her girls to various styles of dance and theatre.

"She was an artist," her daughter said, " and that's how she decided to raise us."

In the late 1930s, Mrs. Holloway attended segregated Laboratory High, which was located at Spelman College. After the Spelman school closed, her class completed its studies at Washington High.

She eventually returned to Spelman, first as an undergraduate student and later as an arts professor. She taught at Spelman 38 years -- from 1952 until her retirement.

There, she influenced students like Lynn Marshall Linnemeier of Atlanta, a mixed-media artist. She remembers a  final class project that required students to map out Africa, give an example of a regional style or artifact, then describe its characteristics.

"That's the kind of teacher she was," Mrs. Linnemeier said.

Jenelsie Walden Holloway, 89, died Thursday at A.G. Rhodes Home, Inc., from complications of Alzheimer's disease. The funeral will be 11 a.m. Thursday at Radcliffe Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. Murray Brothers Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

In 1941,  Mrs. Holloway earned a bachelor's degree in art from Spelman.  A Rosenwald Scholarship, started by philanthropist Julius Rosenwald to foster black leadership in arts and literature, allowed her to pursue graduate studies in figurative painting at the Art Institute of Chicago.

After college, she chaired arts departments at  Prairie View College and Dillard University.  Then she returned to Spelman as a teacher.

In class, she exposed students to their African heritage.

"I credit her with introducing me to the beauty of African art as well as its influences," Mrs. Linnemeier said.

In the community, Mrs. Holloway was an advocate for the celebration and display of African-American art. She served on various advisory boards and committees for galleries, exhibits, events and festivals.

She was involved with the High Museum and was influential in the establishment of the Alma Simmons Gallery at Douglas High and the Auburn Avenue Research Library. Her own visuals are part of the collections at Spelman, Clark Atlanta University and the Hammonds House.

In 1999, Mrs. Holloway started showing signs of Alzheimer's. Yet she continued to support the arts and enjoy her craft.

"She still liked to draw figures," her daughter said.  "She loved the human figure."

Additional survivors include another daughter, Cristell Holloway of Atlanta; and a sister, Austella Colley of Chicago.

Reposted from http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/jenelsie-walden-holloway-89-167699.html

Family photo