Born in New York City, Brita Holmquist is the daughter of a painter and owner of a store representing international crafts and industrial design.  She spent her early years surrounded and influenced by art, regularly summering at Islesboro, Maine.  She attended the Moore College of Art in Philadelphia.  Traveling the United States and Canada, Holmquist returned to Maine in 1971 to work for the Maine Audubon Center and what is now Ram Island Dance.  She continued her travels and moved to Italy for two years to study under American painter Richard Serrin.

Holmquist still spends summers on Islesboro, where she does much of her work.  In 1982, her daughter was born.  To balance the shortened work periods, she began working in oil pastels and colored pencils.  She continues to work in these mediums while traveling, and paints with oil on canvas when in her studio.

Holmquist co-founded “10x10,” a group of ten artists who organize an annual show, and the Peregrine Press, a cooperative artists’ press.  She also designs earthenware and catalogues for R. Bonechi Imports and paints murals, faux finishes, and recycled furniture.

Actively involved in local organizations, Holmquist has served on the Board of the Maine Festival, the Portland Arts Council, the Artists’ Advisory Panel to the Maine Arts Commission, and the Advisory Board of the Institute of Contemporary Art at the Maine College of Art.

While primarily a regional artist, Holmquist has exhibited in galleries throughout the country and in Italy.  Her work is in the collections of the Portland Museum of Art and the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland.  Holmquist’s work is represented in corporate and private collections throughout the United States and Europe.

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