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‘The piece reveals itself’ to Avon artist

Special to the Daily/Nancy Olsen"Manufactured Shadows or Cityscape in the Rain," by Nancy Olsen.
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AVON, Colorado “-Avon resident Nancy Olsen is this month’s resident artist at Loaded Joe’s in Avon. Eleven of her mixed-media pieces will be on display through the month of February. An artist reception is planned for from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at the coffee shop. A DJ will be spinning old-school LPs at the reception, and there will be appetizers.

Vail Daily: What does painting mean to you?



Nancy Olsen: Expressing what I’m thinking and feeling visually is a very exciting and surprising experience. Generally, I have a concept in mind or something visual that inspires me, and then I paint and the piece reveals itself.

VD: When did you know that you wanted to be an artist?

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NO: I’ve drawn and painted since I was a kid. I’m always creating something.

VD: What inspires you to create? What kind of mood do you have to be in?

NO: I think about painting and creating art a lot ” I’m always coming up with ideas. I don’t have to be in a particular mood to create, I just need the right materials and space. I’d love to share warehouse space with other artists ” it’s good energy and keeps costs down. Also, it would get the art mess out of my living space.

VD: Why did you choose the medium that you work with, or did it choose you?

NO: I love color and texture. I use paint, paper, photos, fabric, found objects and resin in my work. Fabric is sexy in its texture, color and weight. I always have boxes of fabric ” mostly from my interior design background. Also, I see story as woven fabric. It embodies that metaphor for me.

VD: Describe your style.

NO: Each piece is different, but as a show they come together. Trusting your intuition would be my stylistic approach to art. Trust that as you approach a blank canvas with the willingness to listen to what you want, even as simple as the color you want to use next, that as you keep at it you will end up with a piece that pleases you. In this show, my style is pattern and chaos. The pieces represent my technology. We experience chaos, we categorize with pattern, we predict because of pattern, we feel chaos, we understand with pattern. It’s a theoretical, physics thing for me.

VD: If you were to meet any artist, alive or dead, who would it be and why?

NO: There are two: Mid-century artist Friedreich Hundertwasser is the first. I found his book in the library when I was in high school and everything about his work resonates with me. He made me want to be an artist. His paintings are vibrant, organic, emotional and communicate a connectedness that is very moving. I’d love to have dinner with him and a bottle of wine or two.

The second is Charlotte Salomon, who wrote and illustrated “Life? or Theatre?” in 1940-42 while hiding from the Nazis in southern France. It’s the most remarkable work ” she was a true artist, literally using art as a way to cope with her experience and emotions. She wrote it as a play set to music, so each painting has dialogue and a song set to it. She was captured and deported to Auschwitz, where she died in the gas chamber at age 26.

VD: Do you own a favorite piece of art?

NO: Right now, my favorite piece is a mid-century sculpture of a peacock that I picked up in Denver at an antique shop. The glaze color is amazing, and the lines are delicate and beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it. I named her Margot ” I must really like it.

Name: Nancy Olsen

Medium: Acrylic, watercolor, mixed media

How long have you lived in the valley: 4 years

Date and time of show: Show is for the month of February

Location of Show: Loaded Joe’s, Avon

Name of show: Journey through pattern and chaos and pattern and chaos and …

Artist reception: Friday, 6 to 8 p.m.

More information: Call 970-748-1480.


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