Debra P. Olson
Artist Anne Olson in her home micro-gallery.
Five years ago, Anne Olson was less than a half a mile from her destination when the car she was riding in was involved in a massive accident. She and two friends were traveling to a family celebration on a bucolic road in Sonoma County, Calif. Olson never made it to the party. The crash shattered her pelvis, broke her tailbone and crushed three vertebrae in her spine. She spent three months in the hospital and the following year in a wheelchair. She now walks with a cane and faces further surgeries.
Olson, a printmaker and conceptual artist, says the desire to make art was the only thing that got her out of her hospital bed each day. “The things I was making were so childish, unicorns with beards,” Olson says. “I don’t even remember making them.” Still, the simple act of making something helped her survive.
Eventually Olson grew strong enough to make a “fresh start” in Brooklyn, N.Y. But after just one year there, and facing additional surgeries, Olson moved home to Stoughton, where she grew up.
Olson purchased a new house last summer, retrofitted it for accessibility and is embarking on a unique experiment, opening her home as a gallery space and studio. She plans to invite artists to live with her, make art and also exhibit their work in her home. The “gallery” — her living room, studio and halls — will be open to visitors by appointment.
Olson debuted her new space in early May with her first featured collaborator, Macedonian-born artist Igor Josifov. The two met when both were enrolled in the San Francisco-based Academy of Art University in 2005. Josifov describes feeling an immediate connection. Olson agrees: “I had such respect for his sense of beauty, his craftsmanship and his process. I was just enamored with him right away.”
One of Igor Josifov’s scorched-paper prints.
Josifov works across many mediums, including performance art. In 2010, he was one of only 30 artists selected to participate in the MOMA’s Marina Abramović retrospective, The Artist Is Present. Abramović, who sometimes describes herself as the “grandmother of performance art,” became well known for performances that involved the audience and tested the limits of pain and human behavior. Josifov says working with her with her was a “historical chance.”
Josifov’s show at Olson’s micro-gallery features portraits he created with a fire-painting technique he developed. The process involves using a blowtorch to scorch and mark portraits on compressed layers of Arches watercolor paper. The resulting images are rust-colored and burnt, with deep crushed blacks and wisps of smoke. The portraits capture everyday people as well as famous figures such as Nelson Mandela, Yoko Ono and David Bowie.
Josifov left his residency at Olson’s on May 10, but his show will stay up for several months. He plans to return, and considers himself a partner in Olson’s endeavor.
Olson says the Stoughton community has been enthusiastic about her endeavor. She’s already met with the mayor and administrators from the Stoughton Opera House, who have commissioned her to create the poster for next year’s season.
The journey to Stoughton is part of the experience of visiting this unique micro-gallery. Guests from Madison or further afield will enjoy a scenic drive to Olson’s home and gallery, and Olson invites visitors to stroll in the acre of woods adjacent to her space. She says nature is a crucial component of her art.
Visitors will also appreciate the emotional impact of visiting an intimate space where an artist is learning to work and live again, reinventing her life.
“This home is amazing,” Olson says. “I wake up every day and feel thankful just to be alive.”
Anyone wishing to visit Olson’s gallery home can make an appointment by calling 608-444-9676.
