Woody Olsen is a Wisconsin-born artist who loves to create with many different mediums but he does not exactly have a specific favorite. He loves to mainly use mixed media for his pieces.
There’s a watercolor wash first. Then a coat of spray paint over the watercolor before adding the rest of the paint. He also loves color. If different hues can be included in something, they will be, and if they cannot, they will be added anyway. His favorite type to put on is metallic gold and it really builds on a whole other level to the pieces.
“With that gold, it just sort of moves,” Olsen said.
He recently went on a trip to Venice, using the experience as an inspiration to his art pieces. Most of them are focused on the water and its life forms, but there are a few that also take direct inspiration from where he had been staying, looking out from his room. He had made the main focus on a piece of paper when staying in Venice, later attaching it to a different section to continue the design into a more abstract piece with fragments of his memory. Additional hallmarks for Venice, like the winged lions and lampposts, were incorporated where there was any space left over.
Most of the Venice pieces were made with fluorescent paint to shine in blacklight. And despite being made differently, the hotel painting still fit in with the rest of the exhibit’s pieces on Venice as the white sheet glowed in the blacklight. The white shined through the paint layer, adding to the fun of this exhibit. The blacklight was definitely the most popular part of this show. Everyone in the crowd loved when the lights turned off, showing the hidden messages that only show under the UV. The fluorescent paint reminds people of bioluminescence with how it seems to constantly be moving, constantly calling attention to what hadn’t been visible before. He got this idea from a group of artists in Chicago for the very same reason: there was “more than meets the eye,” when he looked at their art. He wanted to try and create something similar.
“Artists should be looking at what other artists do. Taking inspiration,” Olsen said.
This idea is shown by the fact that he owns a gallery to help other artists get their art out into the world. It also allows him the ability to learn about new possibilities for his own artistry. He enjoys looking for new pieces to put up in the gallery with his partner.
Tuesday, Oct.7 (Calise Howard)
He’s very active when it comes to art and absolutely loves coming to Whitewater, seeing as he went to the school for a small amount of time.
One of his main inspirations came from this school: a professor named Leanne Stevenson. She eventually led him to have the nickname “colorist” because of how his use in color would create emotional masterpieces.
When asked what piece of his was his favorite, he took a while to ponder on his pieces, thinking through them like a catalogue until deciding that it had to be ‘Noblesse.’ It’s a watercolor mixed with a charcoal [pencil] base.
It came with a trick he had learned through experimenting by accident. While working with charcoal, learning the tricks that come with a new medium, the lines got wet and they started bleeding into the rest of his work which he thought was “cool.”
Olsen and his partner are also the original owners of the Weisman Museum, which has led him to make many different paintings of its likeness. Its placement at the University of Minnesota makes Olsen even happier since he absolutely loves teaching and educating new students about the arts.
Learning art could help someone identify with something that’s been made or make them want to try something new. That is the most important thing when it comes to figuring out the joys of creation.
“Don’t be hesitant to experiment or try things,” Olsen said.
