As we are approaching the 50 year celebrations, many members of the Cowell community thought to honor one of the few women among the founding faculty:  Mary Holmes. 

Mary Holmes, a founding member of the faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a beloved artist and art historian, grew up in various towns in the West, and in Chicago, began her career as a painter and became equally well-known for her work as an art historian, hosting a series of community lectures, as well.

Holmes loomed larger than life for many, and her personal magnetism was legendary.

"She was remarkable in many respects," said John Dizikes, a fellow founding faculty member and a close friend. "She was an incomparable colleague, there was no one like her. She was delightful company. I admired her intense professionalism as an art historian, which she rather disguised because she was full of so many eccentric opinions. Above all I admired her courage; she was indomitable, that's the word."

Prior to her time at UC Santa Cruz, Holmes was a lecturer at University of California, Los Angeles. In 1953, during her tenure at UCLA, Holmes hosted a highly rated educational television program, "Art 5A," which was based on her university lectures. Holmes's affiliation with UCSC began in 1965 when she arrived from Los Angeles as a lecturer in art; she was promoted to associate professor of art in 1971 and retired, as a full professor, in 1977.

Holmes was a painter of visionary and mythical forms, though she chose to teach art history rather than painting, telling a reporter once that she thought it was "very dangerous for anybody who wants to paint to teach painting. I've seen it destroy I don't know how many people."

Holmes lived for many years on a 100-year-old ranch on a mountaintop farm above Happy Valley Road, in rural Santa Cruz, with a menagerie of animals. For 20 years, she faithfully attended the Penny University, a salon-style gathering she co-founded with old friends and UCSC colleagues historian Page Smith and philosophy professor Paul Lee. The group, which was open to everyone and often drew hundreds, met every Monday at 5 p.m. at various Santa Cruz locales to exchange ideas, opinions, and float intellectual balloons. The Penny University continues to meet in Santa Cruz.

Holmes earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Hollins College in Virginia and a master's in Fine Arts from the University of Iowa. She also attended the University of Berlin, the Academie Collorossi in Paris, Johns Hopkins University, and the Art Students League.

Of her degree in philosophy, Holmes once joked that it made her "unemployable, which I thought was a smart move since I always planned not to work."

Fortunately for the Santa Cruz community, that plan didn't work out, and thousands benefited from Holmes's lengthy career.

She died in 2002 at the age of 91. Survivors include her son, Michael Adams Holmes O'Malley of Berkeley; three grandchildren, Rachel O'Malley, of Santa Cruz, Sara O'Malley, of San Francisco, Eliza O'Malley, of El Cerrito ; three great-grandchildren; and Bruce Cantz, a friend of 35 years. She was preceded in death by her sister, Sara Holmes Boutelle, the biographer of the architect Julia Morgan. 

(Adapted from the UCSC Public Affairs obituary by Jennifer McNulty)

List of Events

Thursday, April 17th - Annie Boutelle

Friday, April 18th - Mary Holmes Exhibit Opening

Saturday, April 26th - Remembering Mary Holmes

Sunday, April 27th - Dizikes Concert featuring Eliza O'Malley

Thursday, May 8th - Painting as a Tradition of Seeing into the Heart of Life

Sunday, May 11th - Tour of Mary Holmes Studio & Chapel

Mary Holmes on Empathy & Art

Mary Holmes on the Mysterious Nature of Love

Mary Holmes - Art 5A Part 1

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Thursday, April 17th - Annie Boutelle

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  From Scotland to Caravaggio

  a reading by Poet Annie Boutelle

  6-7:30pm at the Humanities Lecture Hall

  Annie Boutelle, married to Mary Holmes' Nephew, was born and raised in Scotland, is a Senior Lecturer in English Language and Literature at Smith College, and founder of the Smith College Poetry Center. She was a finalist for the 1999 Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, the 2000 Katheryn Morton Award, and the 2002 Philip Levine Prize. Her poems have appeared in a number of journals and magazines, including Poetry, The Hudson Review, The Georgia Review, and The Green Mountains Review. She is the author of Thistle and Rose: A Study of Hugh MacDiarmid’s Poetry, as well as 2 poetry collections, Becoming Bone and Nest of Thistles. Annie lives in Florence, Massachusetts. For more info on Annie Boutelle, please visit her website.

  This event is a part of the UCSC Living Writers Series.

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  7:30-9pm Reception

  at the Cowell Provost House

  RSVP required for the reception, please click here to let us know you are coming.

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Friday, April 18th - "Artist & Teacher" Exhibit Opening

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  Gallery Opens at 5pm

  Ribbon Cutting at 6pm

  at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery

  a collection of Mary Holmes works will be on display at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery.

  The Return of Aquarius

  by Mary Holmes

  with commentary by Gideon Rappaport and Philip Thompson [PT] based on lectures by Mary Holmes

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Saturday, April 26th - Remembering Mary Holmes

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  10-11:30am

  in the Page Smith Library

  This event is a part of the UCSC Alumni Weekend, but all are welcome to attend. Our speakers will reflect on the life and legacy of Mary Holmes, her impact in forming Cowell College and her spirit that lives on so vividly in our community at UCSC and in Santa Cruz.
  We are happy to have a wonderful panel of some of Mary Holmes' closest friends and colleagues from her time here at UCSC.
  Featuring speakers:

  Jim Bierman

  UCSC Digital Arts Professor, crucial contributor to UCSC will join other founding faculty to speak about the lasting impression of Mary Holmes.

  Paul Lee

  Colleague of Mary Holmes, Paul Lee played a crucial role in founding UCSC's Chadwick Garden. He remembers the early days of Cowell, riding horses to work with Mary Holmes.

  John Dizikes

  Also a colleague of Mary Holmes, John Dizikes is a Professor Emeritus of American Sudies at UCSC, served as Cowell College Provost , is author of numersou articles and four books. John won the 1993 National Book Critics Circle Award for "Opera in America: A Cultural History."

  and UCSC alumni

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Sunday, April 27th - 2014 Dizikes Concert

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  Europa & The Bull

  12:30-1:30pm in the Mary Holmes Fireside Lounge

  overflow seating to be in the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery

  The world premiere of a chamber oratorio inspired by the paintings of Mary Holmes, based on the Greek myth as told by Ovid and Moschus. The painting to the left is titled "Europa & The Bull" by Mary Holmes.

  Music by Peter Josheff, Libretto by Eliza O'Malley and Peter Josheff.

  Featuring:

  Eliza O'Malley, Soprano

  Granddaughter to Mary Holmes, soprano Eliza O'Malley performs in opera and recital throughout Northern California. Recent roles include Gilda (Rigoletto), Violetta (Traviata), Leonora (Trovatore) and Norma. Opera companies include Verismo Opera, Bayshore Lyric Opera, and SF Cabaret Opera.

  Brian Thorsett, Tenor

  Tenor Brian Thorsett has performed over 90 diverse operatic roles and fosters a repertoire of more than 200 works. He is a graduate of SF Opera's Merola Program. Brian is on the faculty at Santa Clara University, where he directs, conducts and teaches.

  Jonathan Khuner, Conductor

  Jonathan Khuner is assistant conductor for San Francisco Opera, NY Metropolitan Opera, and Chicago Lyric Opera, and is Music Director for Berkeley West Edge Opera. He has assisted in operas by many living composers, including John Eaton and John Harbison. Other groups for whom he has conducted new works include American Opera Project, Composers Inc, Earplay, and Sonic Harvest.

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  with the

  Sonic Harvest Players:

  Peter Josheff, Clarinet

  Dan Flanagan, Violin

  Victoria Ehrlich, Cello

  William Everett, Doublebass

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  Peter Josheff is a composer and clarinetist based in the SF Bay Area. He is a founding member of Sonic Harvest and of Earplay, and also a member of SF Contemporary Music Players, Empyrean Ensemble, and Eco Ensemble. He has performed with many groups including the Paul Dresher Ensemble, Melody of China, Composers, Inc., and SF Sound.

   

  the concert will be followed by

  Reminiscence in the Cowell Courtyard from 1:30 to 3pm

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Thursday, May 8th - Rosalind Wholden Thomas

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  Painting as a Tradition of Seeing into the Heart of Life

  A tribute to Mary Holmes

  4-5:30pm at the Cowell Conference Room (132)

  Rosalind Wholden Thomas
  Lecturer-in-Art Emerita
  College of Creative Studies, UCSB

  Rosalind G. Wholden taught at the College of Creative Studies where she developed a curriculum combining art, literature, mythology and Jung's alchemical writings.

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Sunday, May 11th - Tour of Mary Holmes Studio & Chapel

• Mary Holmes' studio and the chapel she designed and built at her home will be open for guests on Sunday, May 11, by reservation only. Call (831) 426-0845 before May 8, 2014 to make arrangements.