Artist's Statement
"I primarily work in the pastel medium because I love its vibrancy. It’s used for either drawing or painting, and I appreciate that it travels with little maintenance.
I’m a lifelong learner. While I practiced traditional realism for many years, teaching hands-on studio art classes for adults inspired me to experiment and try new things.
I use a responsive process, integrating shape, color, and mark-making to capture any subject that inspires me.”
-- Christy Olsen
About the Artist
Christy Olsen is an award-winning fine artist and educator. Her skills developed over years of self-directed practice, experimentation, formal education, and tutelage under several contemporary masters. She was born in Memphis, Tennessee, as a third-generation artist, growing up in a family of oil painters. They encouraged her to be creative and took her to multiple museums or notable art exhibitions that she remembers affectionately.
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In the '90s, when most colleges or universities did not offer any representational or figurative arts, she chose to study the Old Masters via the classroom instead. She earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in Art History and Anthropology.
Christy is also a member of the last generation of drafters formally trained to draw with pencils on vellum paper before computer-aided design software. Her earliest professional drafting experience was meticulously hand-drawn architectural blueprints and technical drawings. She's also had a successful career as a systems engineer and earned a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Computer Science from Arizona State University.
