Artist:
Mayling Mack Holm
(American, born in the Phillipines, 1940 - 2023)
At the Rat Household
Medium: Ballpoint pen on paper
Date: 1976
Dimensions:
8 × 6 3/4 in. (20.3 × 17.1 cm)
Accession number: 2021.2.2
Copyright: © Mayling Mack Holm
Label Copy:
Mayling Mack Holm is a self-taught artist who did not begin making art until she was in her mid-30s when her children were young. She referred to her art as “doodles,” the result of “nervous energy.” Those doodles culminated in a contract with Harper & Row to write and illustrate her own children’s book, A Forest Christmas, from which this illustration is drawn. Holm worked in the unusual medium of ballpoint pen, which was a very time-consuming process, with each drawing taking two to three weeks to complete, even though she did not make sketches or preliminary drawings.
Mayling Mack Holm is a self-taught artist who did not begin making art until she was in her mid-30s when her children were young. She referred to her art as “doodles,” the result of “nervous energy.” Those doodles culminated in a contract with Harper & Row to write and illustrate her own children’s book, A Forest Christmas, from which this illustration is drawn. Holm worked in the unusual medium of ballpoint pen, which was a very time-consuming process, with each drawing taking two to three weeks to complete, even though she did not make sketches or preliminary drawings.