Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 26, 1993 TAG: 9310160300
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MELANIE S. HATTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
``I believe you have to go back to your community and help out,'' he says. ``It's obvious, if you don't, the kids won't know where to go.'' Holland hopes that as a college graduate, he can be a positive influence on young people who might otherwise end up on the streets. He wants to introduce them to art and simply ``help black kids. To let them know there's another way to express themselves, [another way] to let their emotions out.''
Holland, 23, vents his feelings and frustrations at life through his art. He has used themes of homelessness and black history in his work, some of which he displayed during the Henry Street Festival on Saturday, Sept. 25
As a youngster, Holland was inspired to draw by another student.
``I used to watch this kid in elementary school draw all the time, in any class,'' he says. ``He'd just amaze me.'' Holland discovered it came naturally to him, but it wasn't until his late teens that he decided to pursue it seriously.
A William Fleming High School graduate, he was the first high school student from the Roanoke Valley since 1962 to get a full basketball scholarship to Tech. He majored in studio art, but he dreamed of becoming a star player.
Holland was a reserve guard until a dislocated right kneecap took him off the court in 1991. But playing college ball opened his eyes. "It's just not about athletics, it's about money" and bringing in the crowds, he says. He didn't get to play as much as he had wanted, despite his skill on the court. In his sophomore year, he was the second leading scorer in the preseason. He expected to start in the regular season, but he wasn't given the chance. Two freshmen were chosen over him and another teammate. "I was hurt," he says. "That's just like a slap in the face."
Holland says his father helped him get over the hurt and move on with his life.
Wayne Holland played football at West Virginia State after making the team as a walk-on, and he helped the Jefferson High School basketball team win the state championship in 1970. Michael Holland calls his dad his biggest role model.
The younger Holland says now that not starting with the basketball team was a blessing. He had watched four freshmen join the team as starters and flunk out by their sophomore year. He also saw older students, once they had stopped playing, leave school never to be heard from again. He decided, then, to concentrate on getting his degree. If he had started with the team, perhaps he would have partied more and paid less attention to his studies, he says. "Everything was coming into perspective at that time."
In April, Holland was one of four artists represented in the first student art exhibit at the Black Cultural Center at Virginia Tech. The exhibit was entitled, ``Young Black Male Artists (Doing the Positive Thing).''
At a reception, Holland told the audience: ``I work with anything I can get my hands on."
He carves walking sticks from pieces of wood he finds while walking his two dogs. One cane on display had been carved into the twisted shape of a snake.
He enjoys working with nature: Working around worm holes is much more interesting than using a piece of manufactured wood from a hardware store, he says.
Influenced by African art, he created another cane in the shapely image of a woman with no face. He named it "Street Walker."
Holland likes to have fun with his art, but serious subjects don't escape him. A watercolor painting, called ``Da Blues,'' of a homeless man walking past the Dominion Tower, was part of the exhibit. He said he was touched by the homeless when he visited downtown Roanoke one Christmas Eve with his camera looking for subjects to paint.
He painted a mural on the wall of barbershop and game room, Play While U Wait on Shenandoah Avenue. When the shop's owner, Cole Simmons, opened the place in September 1992, Holland offered to paint one of the spacious white walls. What he created was a collection of portraits of historical black figures, including Harriett Tubman, African leader Nelson Mandela and soul singer Aretha Franklin, on a background of the African continent.
It's a heavy topic for a game room, but Holland says he chose it deliberately. Most of the children and teen-agers who hang out in the shop may never see those faces other than in a school book.
The mural is ``a constant reminder of what we [blacks] have done and what we can do. I wanted it to hit hard.''
Holland remembers his first sale was to Lois Berg, an athletic advisor at Tech. It was a pencil drawing of a blind owl that belonged to another adviser, Jerry Via. Holland had drawn the bird while it sat on a perch in the adviser's office. He also carved the owl's face on a wooden cane.
Holland lives with his parents, Wayne and Sharon, and sister Garie in Roanoke and has been working with the United Parcel Service since November. He wants to remain in his hometown.
"There's no difference between Roanoke and New York,'' he says. ``When it comes down to it, everything's the same no matter where you go. You need to start on the inside and work your way out. Solve the problems here first.''
That's not to say there's no benefit gained from taking a vacation, he adds with a smile.
To young people who want to leave, he says: ``You guys are taking your talent somewhere else [where] they don't need you. They need you in smaller places. Stay here. Maybe it's hard, but so what. Life is always hard. Stay where you're at and keep plugging.
``Help Roanoke out,'' he says.
by CNB