Marisa Willoughby-Holland is a Jamaican-born artist who is living and working primarily in the UK. Marisa graduated from the Royal College of Art with a Masters degree in illustration in 2001 and since then has worked mainly as a fine artist. Her work has been exhibited and sold in the UK, Caribbean, US, including prestigious venues such as the Royal Academy in London, the Vatican library and the National Gallery of Jamaica. Marisa is an oil painter whose work is centred around her life as a female and mother. Her paintings draw on memories and feelings from her past and present. Throughout the years her work has sold to many collectors, including a couple of celebrities. "I aspire to create a certain atmosphere in my work that is both mystical and vibrant. The colours and landscape have a comforting warmth that evokes sensations from my childhood in Jamaica. As a classically trained artist I have always been fascinated with the human form and creating work that is representational. However, after leaving school I started to create work that was a representation of how I saw the world. Naturally pigmented oil paint is the perfect medium for building up tones and colours to produce images that are both realistic but also have a real sense of depth. I will often use a degree of distortion to emphasise an emotion or intensify a mood.”

The Royal College of Art
MA Illustration
1999 to 2001

Camberwell College of Art
BA Honours Graphic Design
1995 to 1998

Chelsea College of Art
Art and Design Foundation Course
1993 to 1994