Holliday is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Glass at Hastings College (https://www.hastings.edu), Hastings, Nebraska.
He received a BFA from Emporia State University, Kansas and an MFA in glass sculpture and metal fabrication/jewelry design from the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York. After completing his graduate work, Chad accepted an artist in residence at the Grand Crystal Museum in Taipei, Taiwan. During this residency Holliday collaborated with artists and art educators, working directly with their students in the studio and classroom.
From 2017-2019, Holliday was the Director of Studio Operations at Foci Minnesota Center for Glass Art. While at Foci, Chad reconstructed the daily operations by introducing new management protocols and procedures. Staffing was was restructured to support and address the mission of the orginazationhe. The gallery was restructured to accommodate the sales of memebers while currating several exhibitions and collaborating with NCECA to host an exhibtion for thie annual conference. Additionally, with the asssistance of Jon Rees, Education Coordinator (during this period), Holliday wrote the first fully integrated curriculum that supported the mission of the orginazation while addressing contemporary methods in glassmaking.
Prior to this appointment, Chad had the tenure rank of Associate Professor and recognized with an endowed professorship, Doris Alexander Distinguished Professor of Fine Art at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas. Chad taught glass, sculpture, professional practices and three-dimensional design. Holliday leds the curriculum development in these areas while operating as the studio manager and technician for all of the three-dimensional studios. Holliday was appointed the Director of the Creative Research Laboratory (CRL) located on campus and the Creative Research Laboratory - Amarillo (CRLa). He also directs all the safety and compliance for all of the afore mentioned studios as the Primary Investigator.
During his tenure at WTAMU, Holliday was able to cultivate local patronage, creating the largest fundraising event for the College of Fine Arts and Humanities.
As a faculty member dedicated to the success of the art program, he had a number of other diverse roles. WTAMU now has the three galleries of which Chad is the co-manager. Holliday is active in bringing art and education to the local and regional community. He has also led several successful study-abroad courses to the Czech Republic and Turkey, traveling to significant sites associated with art and the history of the country. As part of the course, students worked at and received certificates from The Secondary School of Applied Arts for Glass (www.czech-glass-school.com), Kamenicky Senov, Czech Republic and the Glass Furnace, Istanbul, Turkey.
Holliday received a Fulbright Award for the academic year 2007-2008. Chad performed research and taught classes at The Secondary School of Glass Making - Kamenicky Senov, recognized as the oldest glass school in the world. Holliday worked with his longtime mentor and colleague Frantisek Janak to establish links between traditional methods with a contemporary approach. Upon completion, Holliday accepted a tenure track position at WTAMU. Later that year Chad was a featured as an emerging artist of the year in “American Style” magazine.
He has worked with Martin Blank as an assistant on the hot shop team and was the full-time cold sculptor, performing all of his cutting and polishing. Simultaneously, Holliday owned and operated third-hand - Glass Cutting & Polishing Tools, a small business distributing and promoting glass equipment from the Czech Republic, and worked as a consultant to artists and glass studios and continued teaching while performing consistent research.
In 2001, Chad had moved to the Northwest after accepting the postition of Lead Hot Shop Technician for the Museum of Glassthis position working under the Hot Shop Director, Charles Parriott. With the team put together by Charles Parriott, they built a unique and versatile studio to accommodate artists from any medium. While in this position Chad taught at Pratt Fine Arts Center and as an adjunct professor at the University of Washington, Tacoma. After leaving the Museum of Glass, he held the position of Glass Technician at Pratt Fine Art Center, in charge of all studio operations and curriculum. His interest in teaching has also afforded the opportunities to teach at such great schools and public facilities such as The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass, Pittsburgh Glass Center and Sinanca Glass School, among others.
Chad’s artwork has been published in the New Glass Review. Holliday has been nominated fort the Art, Craft Design Award for several consecutive years. He has had aquisition by multiple museums including The Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington and The Museum of Applied Arts, Prague, Czechia. In 2009, Chad was honored as a featured emerging artist in “American Style” magazine. This was an incredible opportunity for Holliday to introduce his current body of work. At this time the article was followed up with a series of exhibitions.
Holliday has been fortunate to have workaquired by several museum in the United States and the Czech Republic. In 2010 and since, The Museum of Applied Arts (www.upm.cz) in Prague has acquired a few of Holliday’s works. At that time, Curator Milan Hlaves and Holliday chose “Radiant Uran.” This is a special sculpture. It was made in Kamenicky Senov utilizing traditional techniques and glass formulated by Banas Glass (http://www.banasglass.com/en/), unique to the Czech Republic. He has had aquisition other museums including The Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington and The Tacoma Museum of Art from a donation of the Paul Marioni collection.
