By Olivia Turner | Arts & Life Editor
Walking into Cultivate 7Twelve, one of Waco’s art galleries, is like walking into a rainbow. Bursts of color emit from the numerous art works as one moves through the space, and upon this particular visit, Baylor alumna Abby Olsen’s paintings were at the center of it all.
A series of oil paintings featuring staring humanoid figures makes up her showcase titled “Odds and Ends,” a name which nods to her Baylor BFA showcase titled “Ups and Downs,” she said. While she said there’s not a prevalent theme to the showcase, faces among colorful drooping and stretched figures undoubtedly reoccur.
“I’ve been obsessed with faces for as long as I can remember,” Olsen said. “I was like that one kid in class who would always draw that one eye.”
Olsen said she also finds her inspiration in film, which was her minor when she attended Baylor. The concept of character design and the depiction of the human figure in animation fuels much of her method, she said.
The Belton, Texas native said she chose to work with oil paints for this show because of the creative liberties she can take with them as her medium.
“It allows you to be so much more indecisive,” she said. “And plus, experimenting with the way I painted — that kind of wet-on-wet paint technique is where I have a lot of fun.”
Although she graduated as a painting major, Olsen said she had actually started off as a pre-med major and then switched to a math major before she circled back to her artistic abilities. She said the dissociation and isolation she experienced during COVID-19 in her freshman year paired with the influence of an art class she was taking at the time really allowed her to see she was meant to create.
“Right now I make art because that’s just how I figure out my place in the world,” Olsen said.
According to Olsen, even though she’s found her calling, it’s still difficult to succeed as an artist financially.
“I love the Baylor art department so incredibly deeply, but I feel like one problem that persists through the majority of art departments is that we’re taught art history and we’re taught how to create good art, but we’re not really taught how to market or how to provide for ourselves as artists,” Olsen said.
In response, Olsen said her and some fellow art students decided to start the Starving Artists’ Club. The club’s two goals were to provide camaraderie between art students and to teach them how to make profit off their work, leading them to table at places such as Common Grounds and on Fountain Mall to display and sell their art.
Gallery director Debbie Wright said Cultivate 7Twelve tends to work quite often with students from the Baylor Starving Artists’ Club. She said a particular draw in Olsen’s art is her style — something that may entice visitors and passersby to take a closer look at her works.
“It really is just taking ancient techniques and some other known methods that have been historical in normal traditional art work and modernizing it,” Wright said. “Something that’s really unique about her pieces is that she kind of has a surrealist aesthetic, but then does it with more romantic period essences and then kind of has that extra, modern twist on it.”
Wright said she encourages viewers to allow their own emotions to run wild while taking in Olsen’s paintings. From there, one can see what each piece brings out in them and in turn, can learn from that experience, she said.
Olsen said she hopes viewers are able to find a bit of humor in the pieces, as well as stability.
“Even in some of my weirder pieces, I feel like there’s to me, a strange serenity or peacefulness,” she said.
In order for an artist to display their pieces in the space, they should apply online, Wright said. She said Cultivate 7Twelve is always accepting submissions and that they are open to anyone.