jo’s work is grounded in abstraction, mark-making, the landscape that surrounds her and the capturing of memory.
She enters her studio with an openness, and welcomes a sense of wonder and mystery. Her marks and processes are responses to the natural world and her personal history.
My work emerges from a variety of places;
a morning walk through the valley,
a radio interview, a song on repeat, a memory of travelling or simply the peace found on my property in the countryside.
I’m attracted to discarded and found materials, the challenge of finding a sense of balance and simplicity, and I’m always allowing intuition and story to guide my hand.
These predominately abstract images and objects are anchored by a connection to remembered and experienced landscapes, and daily observations of local flora and fauna, weather and light.
In building up layers and dismantling materials, I can tell a story and exPerience great presence. the culmination of my marks and decisions become a diary of sorts, one where I can attempt to understand the self and re-experience place and time, memory and connection.
- Jo Olive
Follow The Studio
