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Harold T. Holden, or "H" as he is called by most folks, was born in Enid, Oklahoma March 28, 1940 to Patrick Miles and Betty Jane Failing Holden. Although "H" was the first professional fine artist in the family, he comes from a family of creative and talented inventors and engineers. In 1915, his great-grandfather George Failing invented the bottle capping machine that is still used on beverages today. His grandfather, oil pioneer George E. Failing, invented the first portable drilling rig, as well as numerous drilling bits, still used in the industry today. "H" credits his love of horses to his father who was an avid horseman and polo player. Tragically, when H was 6 years old, his father was killed in a plane crash in Enid, OK. leaving his mother Betty, a widow at age 31 with 3 children under the age of 10. With help from the grandparents, his mother provided a stable and loving home for H, his older brother Tim and younger sister Katy. Subsequently, Betty remarried and youngest sister Myrlane joined the family. H attended and graduated from Enid High School in 1958 and during his high school years played football and ran track, medaling in the State 880 relay.
As a High school sophomore, H attended summer school at Culver Military academy in Culver, Indiana. There, he won the Lightweight boxing championship, following prior championships won in boxing by his older Brother Tim at Culver as well as garnering proficiency as an expert marksman.
After graduating from Enid High School, "H" attended Oklahoma State University but a trip to Houston to work on an oil rig in 1959 resulted in a chance meeting with an instructor at the Texas Academy of Art, from which H graduated with an art degree. He then began his art career in the commercial art field, working in Wichita, Kansas and in Houston, Texas, where he eventually took the position of art director at Horseman Magazine. While working during the day for other folks, "H" began his fine art career at night, painting and sculpting his first love, the West. He is completely self-taught as a sculptor.
H has had an interest in horses his entire life. He and his cousin Jeff Holden spent several years raising and running quarter horses both in Oklahoma and other states. He has continued to have ranch horses for both pleasure and for team roping throughout his life.
After a tour of duty with the Navy during Vietnam aboard the U. S. S. Rainier, "H" ventured out on his own in 1973, to try and make it as a professional fine artist. Commissions from the National Cattlemen’s Association from 1982-1986 helped and collectors began taking notice of his work.
H is known for his attention to detail, and particularly his sculptures of horses. Believing that an artist should know his subject matter, he spends much of his leisure time staying close to the cowboy way of life.
In 1987 “H” was chosen to sculpt a series of commemorative bronzes to depict the 165 year history of the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma and Kansas. That same year he completed his first of many monuments, “Boomer” for the City of Enid, Oklahoma. The image of Boomer went on to be used on a U. S. Postage Stamp and the symbol of the Cherokee Strip in both Kansas and Oklahoma. Since that first monument 30 years ago H has completed 21 additional monuments for placement in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and Arkansas, among them, “Oklahoma’s Native Son” at Will Rogers World Airport, “We Will Remember” at Oklahoma State University, “Headin’ to Market” at the OKC Stockyards, which H dedicated to his first grandson Patrick Martin Meyer who died at the age of 4 ½ days, the “World Champion” at the OKC Fairgrounds, “Monarch at Rest” at the Oklahoma History Center and “Cherokee Kid” at Rogers State University.
He has also completed several monuments for universities to assist their Endowments through the sale of maquettes including the Northwestern Oklahoma State University “Ranger” in Enid, Alva and Woodward, the “Broncho” at the University of Central Oklahoma, “Crossing the Red” for the Altus Public School Foundation and “Vision Seeker” for the Altus and Enid Public School Foundations, along with the “Bison Spirit” for Oklahoma Baptist University. His “U. S. Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves” monument in Ft. Smith was the first equestrian sculpture to be dedicated in Arkansas and his larger than life monument of “E. K. Gaylord” graces the entrance of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in OKC.
In 2007 H was diagnosed with a fatal lung disease “Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis” for which there is no known cause or cure. After suffering failing health, in the summer of 2010, H closed his studio and got his affairs in order.
Wade Burleson, his minister and his church family at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid continued to pray for H’s healing and those prayers were answered when in July 2010 he received a lifesaving single lung transplant at the Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Center at Integris Hospital in Oklahoma City. In gratitude for his second chance at life, a casting of his 6’ monument “Thank you Lord” graces the garden at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid and a second casting stands outside the Emergency Room of the Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Center in Oklahoma City.
H received the Lifetime Achievement award from the Oklahoma Sculpture Society in 2000 and was also inducted in to the Mountain Oyster Club as a lifetime member that same year. In 2001 he was awarded the Governor’s Art Award from Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating and in 2005 was honored with a Distinguished Alumni Award from Oklahoma State University. In 2004 he was elected into Professional Membership in the National Sculpture Society and in 2013 was invited into membership in the prestigious Cowboy Artists of America organization. In 2014 he was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, the highest honor the state can bestow on one of its citizens. In April 2017, he became the first Oklahoma artist to be inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners at the National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City, as recognition of his lifelong pursuit of capturing the West through his art.
H is currently showing a large body of his work in a 2 man show “Cowboys and Indians” at the Gaylord Pickens-Oklahoma Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City with fellow Oklahoma Hall of Fame inductee and fellow artist, Mike Larsen. This show is open until August 2017.
H and his wife Edna Mae, who is a 4th generation Oklahoman, have been married for 28 years and live near Kremlin, Oklahoma.