Brian Holcombe is the curator at the Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA. With visual arts experience spanning nearly two decades, curator, artist, and educator, Holcombe leads the center's year-round program of art exhibitions and related educational and engagement activities in its galleries and public spaces.
In 2002 Holcombe founded Saltworks, a groundbreaking contemporary art gallery in Atlanta, Georgia, and served as the gallery's director and curator for 12 years. Saltworks quickly established itself as a preeminent gallery for emerging to mid-career interdisciplinary artists in the Southeast and served as an inclusive platform that introduced global perspectives to the Atlanta community through curatorial collaborations and initiatives. Collaborative highlights include “Embodiments,” 2005, a solo exhibition by Lalla Essaydi curated by Isolde Brielmaier; “Gimme Shelter,” 2005, co-organized with Franklin Sirmans; and group exhibitions curated by artist William Cordova, “Paradise City,” 2003, and “Cumanana,” 2009.
Holcombe served as a board member of the Atlanta-based international art magazine Art Papers from 2014–2020 and was a founding member of the Atlanta Westside Arts District from 2009-2012. Holcombe holds a master of fine arts from Florida State University, a master of industrial design from Georgia Tech, and a bachelor of fine arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
