In January 2010, John Holdway exhibited Fresh a solo show of sill life paintings at the David Joyce gallery in Eugene. 2009 exhibited the show Consuming Vision in Eugene, Oregon at the Jacobs Gallery followed by a solo show at Bella Perla Gallery in Portland in March.

A Maryland native, Holdway grew up near Washington, DC. Holdway began studies at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore in 1986. In the middle of his college career he took six years off to travel and earn money for his education. He traveled through Europe and Australia and worked all over the United States including as a worker in a salmon cannery in Alaska and a outdoor leader for juvenile probationers on backpacking trips in the Gila wilderness in New Mexico. Holdway graduated from MICA with a Bachelor of Fine Art in Painting in 1996.

After graduating, Holdway and his wife left Baltimore and headed west. In Eugene he was an member of the exhibition committee for Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts and help bring many innovative exhibits to the community such as the tattoo exhibit Living Canvas, Breathing Art. He is active in arts education. Besides his own teaching, he helped create the children's art program TEACH Arts for Emerald Art Center in Springfield, OR.

Holdway lives with his wife Michelle and son, Henry, in Springfield, Oregon. He is also an art instructor who has taught art for children and adults in many venues including Johns Hopkins University and Pacific Northwest College of Art. In Eugene he teaches painting at Emerald Art Center and Maude Kerns Art Center.