SHARING SPACE WITH THE WORDS PROJECT, 5/31/21

I sit here alone at the 118 Elliot Gallery in Brattleboro, VT (118elliot.com) with my current exhibit of paintings “Tina Olsen: Landscapes and Visages,” sharing space with the Brattleboro Words Project, which is a community effort to explore and share its local literary heritage. To appreciate our own cultural history better. To make it more accessible to ourselves and to visitors to Brattleboro. From the Words Project and a guest poet who came to my May 7th opening I learned that the writer of one my favorite poems “if I can walk among all people and not look down or up at any one” was by Rudyard Kipling of Dummerston. I came to Vermont in 2009 to further get off the grid. Learning about the literary heritage of Brattleboro helps me feel more connected to the place I live and work, which is integral to my paintings. In the future I hope to share more of my experiences in paint of the Vermont wilderness, land, and people. I am making a transition from urban to rural wildernesses. I see my work as a painter as individual consciousness raising. The Words Project is one of community consciousness raising. I like being part of it. I am part of an evolving 118 Elliot collaboration with the Words Project, and with mostly local artists. We imagine future artist-curated shows which could include performers, poets, musicians, writers, etc in addition to the main focus on visual arts. Why does a collaboration with the Words Project work for me? It is interdisciplinary. As a writer and visual artist myself, I’m very interested in bringing these and other expressive worlds together. This is possibly a Statement of Purpose for us: music, words, painting and performances working as one.  

~Tina Olsen