10 Questions with Eva Magill Oliver
Q: Where do you draw inspiration from and how did you get started making art?
A: I find that nature lends itself to an endless and consistent source of inspiration. Each new season brings an abundance of fresh ideas ranging from the color palettes I use in my work to new textures and patterns. Recently I’ve also been interested in the cyclical tendency throughout our lives and how they mirror those found in the natural world. A constant fluid motion that informs and influences life and generations after.
I started creating art at a very young age. I was lucky enough to be surrounded by encouraging and supportive family and friends. I took art lessons in oils, watercolors and drawing after school and on weekends and continued studying art throughout my college years. Everything about the Arts interested me but I think I was most that it serves as a visual internal voice. A way to express yourself.
Q: What colors and/or shapes excite you?
A: I have been obsessed with circular shapes but love anything that feels organic and continuous. I’ve been pulled towards warmer and more relaxed colors and tones. I feel that this time of year I’m always more drawn to ‘summer’ shades. I get inspired by water, beaches, the changes in light and earthy rich greens.
Q: What artists do you admire and why?
A: Georgia O’Keeffe always inspires me a ton. I love her fearlessness and her journey as an artist. She truly embodies the sentiment that life imitates Art. I also love her color palettes and how she plays with scale and of course the fact that the majority of her art focuses on nature.
Q: What do you want collectors to know about you and your work?
A: I think mostly that I try to create work that I’m proud of and always strive to remain sincere and open about what I create. I also embrace the idea to always remain humble, open to new ideas, try to learn from other artists and to always stay curious.
Q: Do you have a specific time of day that you like to create most?
A: I typically like to work in the mornings. Feel I’m most creative during that time plus I like the light more in the mornings. Also, it allows time for me to step away and revisit the work during the course of the day with fresh eyes to make changes/adjustments.
Q: Tell us a little bit about your process and how you begin.
A: I normally begin in the studio doing simple ink drawings as a warmup to begin allowing my hand and eyes to start to work together. I pretty much always do these warmups with ink or watercolors. The nature of these materials lend themselves to a really fluid easy line.
Q: You work in collage and paintings on canvas...Do each fill a different space in your need to create? Why work with both methods?
A: I love both collage and painting equally. Even though they both fall under the title of art they each hold a very different purpose for me and offer fulfillment in entirely different ways. The paintings allow me to be more reactive and impulsive. They are about allowing the materials to be equally involved in the final outcome. The materials are just as an important element of the entire piece as I the artist. Collage satisfies my need to be more in control of the final work. It is a lot about design and balance which I both love.
Q: When you are creating, do you listen to music or podcasts? Or is silence preferred?
A: I like a mix of both. I think silence is often important as it allows your thoughts to flow. I often do like a good podcast though. Nice to learn new things while creating. I started listing to Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s podcast called ‘Wiser Than Me.’ She interviews older women listening to their vast knowledge about life. They pass on advice and share their personal experiences. LouisDreyfus feels like in our country women of an advanced age and basically invisible and casted aside when in reality they have such a vast and rich knowledge of life and the human experience.
Q: What is your favorite design trend currently?
A: Not sure if this is really a new trend or I’m just noticing it more but love the exposed shelving in kitchens. I also have a passion for ceramics and seeing them stacked up in kitchens and being displayed instead or hidden in cabinets is so lovely. Daily dishes and cookware are such beautiful and utilitarian objects. They emit a simple warm beauty.
Q: If you could take a trip to anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?
A: That is a VERY tough one but I’d love to go and take my son to France. I lived their for 4 years and would love to see my friends there and introduce them to my son. Living there for so long I really began to embrace the beauty of the culture, the people and the country and would just love to share that with my son.
