Meet Olivia von Gries! She is a freshman at the University of Iowa and has already made her mark on Iowa City with her passion for art.
Majors: I’m a psychology and art double major and am interested in an art history minor.
Hometown: I’m from Florida, but I’ve lived in Bettendorf, Iowa, for the last 15 years.
Favorite food: My favorite food is HyVee’s Sesame Chicken (#HyChi) for sure.
Favorite Iowa City location: I would probably say either the Mill or Nodo’s. I’ve heard some really good music at the Mill, but Nodo’s grilled peanut butter and banana is to die for, so it’s hard to pick just one!
Involvements on campus: I’m a part of the Honors program here, play violin in the All University String Orchestra and will be a College Transition Workshop Leader in the fall.
Freshman year accomplishments: Well, I know how the Cambuses work pretty well, so I’m really proud of that. I was accepted into a juried art show, Benjamin’s Banquet (a food themed exhibition) at the Chait Galleries Downtown. I submitted one painting called Temptation, which is now on the fourth floor of the Blank Honors Center. The owner of the gallery, Benjamin Chait, has done a themed show like this for a few years now, and it’s pretty well advertised in the city and online. My parents spend a lot of time in Iowa City looking for art and have wanted me to apply for the show for a while, so I’ve known about his show since high school. You have to be at least eighteen years old to submit artwork, though, and this was the first year I was old enough to submit anything. Unfortunately, the gallery is closing in June, so this was probably my first and last show there.
I also had a painting called A Woman’s Work is Never Done published in this year’s “earthwords” 36 edition, and that was really exciting for me. “Earthwords” is an undergraduate literary magazine here at the UI, and they put out a magazine/book once a year that’s a culmination of the best literary material and visual arts here on campus. Only a few authors and artists are accepted, and I submitted two paintings online after getting an email from them calling for art and literature in my school inbox. One painting was rejected, and the other was accepted, and you can pick up a free copy of the magazine in Prairie Lights (so please do!)
How did you find your passion for art?
Art runs in the blood of my dad’s side of the family; my great-grandmother was an artist, my grandmother is currently an artist, and two of my aunts are photographers. So, art has always been appreciated and respected in my family. My mom introduced me to my art teacher when I was nine, and I took private art lessons with her for nine years in addition to working in her art gallery for one year. However, I would say my passion for art really didn’t start until freshman year of high school. That’s when I started to buckle down and focus on my art projects, and I started to get really good results. I really fell in love with creating art this past summer, though, when I spent probably every day or every other day painting in my basement. When I came to Iowa, I had a professor really preach about doing what you’re passionate about, and that’s when I knew to drop being pre-med and pick up an art major, much to my dad’s chagrin. I’ve never been happier.
What is your favorite art piece?
Okay, that’s kinda like picking a favorite child (easy to do but you pretend like it’s hard). I would say that my favorite piece, currently, is oil pastel I did of my boyfriend’s dog, Sarah. I really just let myself “get taken by the art,” and she turned out completely rainbow, which I’m kinda in love with. I was proud of myself for turning a relatively mundane topic such as pet portraits into something really interesting and exciting for me, at least, to look at. My art up to this point has always been very realistic, which this piece still is, but I messed with colors and different mediums for the first time and got good results. But, ask me the same question tomorrow, and my answer will probably change!
How do you usually come up with your ideas?
Well, for most of my artistic career, the topics have been assigned to me, and I can mess around with my interpretation of the subject. When I create art on my own, I’m really inspired by the people who play a large role in my life at the time. So, I tend to go to human subjects when I have time for a personal project, and over the breaks this school year, I did portraits of friends and myself. But, I also love animals and have done a lot of dog paintings and drawings. I don’t know, sometimes you just look at someone talking to you or just sitting next to you, and you think, “There. That’s it. That’s what I need to paint.” And then I whip out my phone and take pictures, and it usually freaks them out.
Do you have any future plans or goals?
Short term, I really want to make time for my personal art during the school year. This first semester, I didn’t create any art at all while classes were in session, and that was really awful. Academics wise, I want to graduate with honors in both studio arts and psychology. I took an art history course for the first time this semester, and I fell head over heels in love with the subject, so I definitely want to get a minor in art history, if not add the subject as a third major. I don’t know, I just want to be happy. Art and art history make me really happy, so if I keep those in my life, I’ll be where I want to be.
The reason I have art and psychology together is that I’m very interested in becoming an art therapist. Lots of people know about music therapy, but few people realize that art therapy is also a thing. I genuinely like helping people and figuring out what’s going on inside of their minds, and I have this talent for art, so art therapy seems like the perfect way to combine the two. Also, one of the reasons I really like psychology is that there are so many different branches of the subject, and even if I no longer want to be an art therapist, I can still go to graduate school in a different sect of psychology.
Advice for aspiring artists:
To quote my favorite artist, David Bowie, “I’ve come to the realization that I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing half the time,” so I don’t have much advice. However, that’s kinda what art is; just letting your work take you places you didn’t know you were even interested in going. Did I think in January that I would spend a majority of the past month making various collages out of torn up magazines and oil pastel portraits of rainbow colored dogs? No. But that’s just what happened. Embrace that spontaneity. No realm of art is lesser than the other, so explore what you want to explore. But, I would also say that learning the basics is super important, and you really can’t explore all that art has to offer if you don’t know some underlying color theory and whatnot, so learn that first.