Marjorie Wight Olsen paints what we can’t see. She feels the energy of the world and puts on a canvas what surrounds and connects us all. Intangible vibrations are the common theme of the roughly 250 acrylic on canvas paintings that the world is just beginning to see, for the first time in almost 40 years.
We’re not as disconnected as sometimes our visual eyes are trained to see. When I’m immersed in the process of painting, I feel that energy and appreciate the process of being in the painting itself, said Olsen.
Olsen has studied art around the country and the world and dabbled in art therapy and public relations, but one thing that’s always remained constant has been her desire to paint and the freedom it gives her. In the decades she’s been putting brush to canvas, she’s never once wanted to or attempted to showcase her work. For her, she said, it was purely personal.
`The value wasn’t in the painting but in the process of exploration, the process of really getting closer to myself, to my core, to nature, to the world we live in. When I paint, I’m nowhere else but in the moment,` said Olsen. `I really believe that paintings have the power to transform the artist, and hopefully the viewer too, but it’s about what inspires my life; yoga, spirituality, mentality.`
Her paintings are thick on the walls of her living room, bathroom, kitchen and in her children’s closets. They are marked by bright colors and bold brush strokes, some with identifiable features but others abstract in a way that allows viewers to form their own interpretations. Nature and spirituality inspire her, she said, so there may be the faint outline of angels or a quietly blooming flower.
When Olsen took her paintings down to put on display in the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library this winter ` her debut exhibition ` she said her kids joked about how bare and strange the house looked.
The catalyst behind her art’s late unveiling was the book she self-wrote, self-illustrated and self-published. `Hollow-Ways` is a collection of poetry, paired with relatable paintings. Olsen said she didn’t have specific artwork in mind; the fact that her poems reflected what she paints was just a reflection of her creativity.
`The whole process of this book and unfolding has been a really beautiful, organic movement. Very naturally, the pictures and poetry went together and when I combined them in a photograph album, something extra happened. A third element emerged between the visual painting and the words that said more than either one could do separately,` said Olsen. `That little spark I felt was exciting. My words give life to the paintings.`
Olsen said she wrote what was in her head, never brainstorming or consciously moving in a certain direction. She paints in much the same way.
`I never say, ‘I’m going to paint a picture of this.’ I’ll sit in a place or state of mind and try to feel the energy, the light, the wind or the colors of the day. It’s that freedom, the spontaneity, the lack of a guru or teacher or preconceived idea that allows painting to be exploratory,` said Olsen. `I think that’s why painting and poetry went together so seamlessly. I just spontaneously let flow whatever was flowing through me.`
Olsen is looking for a distributor for her book. Up until now, she’s approached the business side of art with the same homegrown attitude with which she approaches life, walking and driving her book around to local bookstores. She said the feedback she’s received has made her realize the need for a more aggressive strategy.
`I’ve been told the book is uplifting and has a beautiful message; very genuine. Adolescents tell me my poems say something they’d been thinking but couldn’t put into words,` said Olsen. `People say there’s something about the fluidity and freedom of what I’ve captured in my paintings that make the words more accessible and understandable.`
The exhibition at the library is scheduled to run through the end of February and Olsen already has another showing set to open at the Saratoga library in March. Her book is available at www.marjorieolsen.com, www.bloatedtoe.com, www.barnesandnoble.com and www.amazon.com. Those interested in her paintings can inquire through her Web site.
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