Really good art makes me sigh. One hand will flutter up to my chest and I will release a little sigh and smile with joy. This is how I know that I have connected with a piece of art. I am not an artist myself, so I need to live vicariously through those that do create visual art masterpieces.
On a recent visit to Asheville, North Carolina’s famous River Arts District, I spent a few fleeting hours hiking up one hill and down another discovering studio secrets. In the studio of mixed media painter Brit Oie (pronounced ay-ya), there was a whole lot of sighing going on.
A soft-spoken native of Norway, Oie began her art career as a weaver. Eventually, she tried her hand at painting. Even as a painter, though, a weaver’s love of the tactile flowed like the mountain streams she depicts. Craving a way to combine texture and pattern with color, she experimented with collage and her current artistic method was born.
Today, Oie collages textured wallpapers to canvases. Then, she coats the canvases in multiple layers of acrylic paint to create her own soft color washes. The final effect is natured-based work that showcases the mountain ranges of her beloved Norway and North Carolina. The soft mists are here. The rolling hills and the reflective pools are here. A stroll through her workspace at Riverside Studios is like a drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
As I travel the Southeastern U.S. full-time, collecting things is not wise. With no home base to display art pieces that I love, I have to be content to spend an afternoon admiring the work in her studio. So, I tucked her business card into a pouch with other treasured cards that I hope to revisit. Someday, when I have a home base again, I may take an Oie painting home with me and I will visit the Blue Ridge Parkway every time I look at it. And I will sigh.
More of Brit’s beautiful work can be seen here: Brit J. Oie | River Arts District Artists
Are there things that you seek out when you travel that make you sigh with joy?
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