On Traditional Art Careers and Making Useful, Spiritual Things: "Meet Her Hands" with Ceramicist and Sculptor Angel Oloshove
This summer, we're producing our second Meet Her Hands production with the Elisabet Ney museum. This series features three self-identifying women, Texas-based artists in discussion about their work, their inspiration and their hands (hence their process).
Photos by Tess Cagle. View more photos on the #bossbabesATX Facebook.
The Vibe
Elisabet Ney Museum
On July 20, we gathered on the banks of the Elisabet Ney Museum, the former home of sculptor, Elisabet Ney, to interview the second artist in Meet Her Hands 2017, Angel Oloshove. As the sun set, attendees enjoyed an intimate exhibition of the artist's work, a Q&A with the artist herself and cider provided by Argus Cidery.
The Interview
A Q&A between Angel Oloshove and Women & Their Work Gallery Program Director Madeline Taylor
Angel studied Painting and Drawing at California College of the Arts. She then worked as a toy designer in Tokyo, Japan and began working in ceramics in 2007 in Baltimore, Maryland. She continued as a studio technician at the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston until 2014. She currently lives and works in Houston, Texas.
A few highlights:
On making accessible, functional art for other people:
Doing functional pottery is a way of staying engaged with the material... I want to be able to have work that's more accessible to people to whom it speaks to.
I want to have my fine art work be catalysts for the person who's looking at it: a transcendent, intimate personal feeling... while I want my pottery to be something that someone can interact with every day.
When I make the work and it's done, I don't even feel like it's mine. I just feel like the hands that made it
On her inspirations:
I'll fill up a sketchbook with contoured forms, while I'll be looking at the world for textures that are very luxurious and visually sumptuous and delicious. And slowly they'll come together.
On the color purple:
I just have a lot of specific memories of being at the farm [in Michigan, where we grew up] and picking tomatoes in the dirt and her feet in the dirt. And I remember that her toenail had this mauve nail polish. And that's the color I associate with her, my mother.
On her synesthesia:
Certain color combinations or textures will make my mouth water or my eyes tingly.
On facing criticism/skepticism at her medium:
I'm just gonna show up and do my work.
The Exhibition
featuring select sculptures by Angel Oloshove
Angel's pieces will be on display at the Elisabet Ney Museum through August 8. The next and last artist in this series is illustrator and designer Neta Bomani (August 10). You can catch the recap of the first artist in this series, Roshi K., here.