Series K 0004 - 2304 - Olga Megele
- 2 years ago
Colour in Your Life featured artist Olga Megele appeared on Colour In Your Life Season Twenty Three (23).
Read a little bit about the artist here, and support our site by joining and watching the episode below.
Olga Megele is an Australian Artist living and making art in Melbourne, Victoria. A Member of The Hut, Ferntree Gully Art Society, MAVA, The Contemporary Art Society and Oak Hill Gallery, Mornington, she exhibits regularly at these venues as well as holding group and solo exhibitions, most recently at Connection Arts Space in Dandenong, The Hut in Ferntree Gully and a residency at Donkey Wheel House in Melbourne.
She is an art teacher whose students have ranged from age 5 to Adults. Olga studied at Melbourne University where she majored in Painting, Printmaking and Fine Art. In her final year for Professional experience she worked as a Gallery Assistant at The Gryphon Gallery, Melbourne State College. As a teacher she was the Head of Art and Graphic Communication.
The story of Olga's art started when she started painting again after a long absence. Her work was not how she wanted it to be. It was stilted, stayed and lacking in life. There was no joy because she felt tentative and scared.
Olga had to learn to be playful, to be no longer afraid of ‘mucking up’ the canvas. Now she calls herself an artist. She lets her art direct her, she has given it permission to lead her. Olga doesn’t often do preliminary sketches and if she does they are often on scraps of paper, thumbnails executed while teaching, driving or doing something unrelated to art. They come to her in epiphanies. A lot of the painting happens in Olga's head, she thinks out the painting, dreams it and then makes it real. Olga has always worked this way, even in non-art related projects.
Olga's process is mark-making, study, leave, think and return. Repeated many times over. Olga likes working with thick impasto and in textured layers. She is really enjoying working with different palette knives and rollers too. Then as a paradox she likes to intersperse that with more realism when she works with still life.
Sometimes she is brave. Sometimes she has no regard for anything apart from the creating. Sometimes she makes messes that are somehow necessary. Olga uses tools to scrape, spread and roll. She loves the accidents, she falls in love with areas of paint. Sometimes the interplay is so incredibly beautiful. That swipe of colour, the shape of that perfect toe, the light against dark. She is in love with it. It both makes her feel held and sends shivers up her spine.
For Olga Megele painting is a visceral experience. She can do realism and often does, but generally that’s not what she want to do. She is an expressive and emotional artist, and wants to give pleasure to the eye. Olga wants you to connect with the art and feel something.
Read a little bit about the artist here, and support our site by joining and watching the episode below.
Olga Megele is an Australian Artist living and making art in Melbourne, Victoria. A Member of The Hut, Ferntree Gully Art Society, MAVA, The Contemporary Art Society and Oak Hill Gallery, Mornington, she exhibits regularly at these venues as well as holding group and solo exhibitions, most recently at Connection Arts Space in Dandenong, The Hut in Ferntree Gully and a residency at Donkey Wheel House in Melbourne.
She is an art teacher whose students have ranged from age 5 to Adults. Olga studied at Melbourne University where she majored in Painting, Printmaking and Fine Art. In her final year for Professional experience she worked as a Gallery Assistant at The Gryphon Gallery, Melbourne State College. As a teacher she was the Head of Art and Graphic Communication.
The story of Olga's art started when she started painting again after a long absence. Her work was not how she wanted it to be. It was stilted, stayed and lacking in life. There was no joy because she felt tentative and scared.
Olga had to learn to be playful, to be no longer afraid of ‘mucking up’ the canvas. Now she calls herself an artist. She lets her art direct her, she has given it permission to lead her. Olga doesn’t often do preliminary sketches and if she does they are often on scraps of paper, thumbnails executed while teaching, driving or doing something unrelated to art. They come to her in epiphanies. A lot of the painting happens in Olga's head, she thinks out the painting, dreams it and then makes it real. Olga has always worked this way, even in non-art related projects.
Olga's process is mark-making, study, leave, think and return. Repeated many times over. Olga likes working with thick impasto and in textured layers. She is really enjoying working with different palette knives and rollers too. Then as a paradox she likes to intersperse that with more realism when she works with still life.
Sometimes she is brave. Sometimes she has no regard for anything apart from the creating. Sometimes she makes messes that are somehow necessary. Olga uses tools to scrape, spread and roll. She loves the accidents, she falls in love with areas of paint. Sometimes the interplay is so incredibly beautiful. That swipe of colour, the shape of that perfect toe, the light against dark. She is in love with it. It both makes her feel held and sends shivers up her spine.
For Olga Megele painting is a visceral experience. She can do realism and often does, but generally that’s not what she want to do. She is an expressive and emotional artist, and wants to give pleasure to the eye. Olga wants you to connect with the art and feel something.