Conversations with Hope Olson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hope Olson. 

Hi Hope, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Nearly ten years ago, I was completing senior year coursework to receive an undergraduate degree in Interior Design. During a required internship with an interior design firm, I realized my interests and strengths did not align with the architecture and design field as well as I had originally imagined. I casually tossed around the idea of what it would look like to work as a painter, something I had loved to do in my free time since childhood. The combination of a professor’s encouragement, my parents’ blessing, and the bourgeoning model of many young, female artists getting their professional start by way of social media set me in motion. I did still complete my interior design education, but within a year of college graduation, I had legally set up a business as a self-employed artist. 

It has been a journey of baby steps. First year: panic. What in the world do I want to paint?! Second year: sell paintings at a small local arts and crafts fair. Third year: join two galleries. Fifth year: rent a painting studio to better separate home and work life. Sixth year: translate my paintings onto fabrics for a pillow collection. Seventh year: quit my day job and make the leap to working as full-time artist. I feel very privileged to have fallen more in love with painting at each step of the way. I would not trade the journey for anything. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
One of my biggest struggles, and one that I suppose most creatives wrestle with, is developing the backbone required to quiet the imagined or actual external voices of critique: that painting is too weird, too childlike, too expensive, too “out there.” In my personal life, I am a textbook people-pleaser. In my work, I cannot be. Training myself to be unapologetic about my art as well as believe that I can still make a living even if, let’s say, only 10% of people who see my work like it, has been a constant mental hurdle. 

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I enjoy painting scenes about home and old-fashioned ways of life in modern color schemes. The narratives in my paintings often hearken back to times when things moved at a slower pace—when people in community together relied more heavily upon each other and the local land to experience a rich, meaningful existence. I am always experimenting with non-traditional color combinations and unconventional renderings of still lives, landscapes, or figures (my goal is to make things look “ugly-pretty”, as I like to call it), but I also want to consistently pay homage to history. My art inhabits the intersection of contemporary art and folk art. 

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Only the best possible lesson was learned: the Covid-19 pandemic did not stop art collectors from buying art. For this, I am immensely grateful! 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hopeolson.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hope_olson_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hopeolsonart

Image Credits:
Hope Olson