Listening to Mirella Olson slowly describe the stunning beauty of California's scenery is almost otherworldly.
"I just love it," she said in her velvety Italian accent. "It's spectacular in the springtime. In every time of the year. Leaving from Santa Barbara with the beautiful ocean and then arriving into the desert, it's a totally different world. California is really beautiful."
Olson, who is currently the featured artist during October at Gallery Los Olivos, takes great joy in talking about her favorite places throughout the Golden State. She especially loves the drive from Santa Barbara to Joshua Tree National Park, which, even after almost 60 years of living here, she still seems to find mesmerizing. Olson was born and raised in Italy, where she spent her youth cultivating a strong interest in art.
"My family is very artistic," Olson said. "I have a couple of aunts and uncles who were opera singers. My father also raced cars so we're all a little different. I always enjoyed art and self-expression."
When she came to California in 1964, Olson said she felt like art was her companion, as she worked to assimilate into American life. She first came to Los Angeles but then moved to Santa Barbara in the '70s. When she arrived in the seaside city, she knew she had come to the right place.
"I said, 'I'm home,'" Olson recalled. "It was so similar to the region [in Verona, Italy] where I come from."
Over the next few decades, Olson would build a name for herself as a talented and commercially popular local artist. For Olson, her artwork is heavily inspired by California's landscape. Her favorite places–such as Joshua Tree National Park and Figueroa Mountain–are permanently etched into her brain, and yet, she always finds new ways to tell the visual story of her most recent visits.
The artist is a devoted plein air painter, which means she focuses on work made on location rather than in a studio. For the avid traveler, who still makes time to visit her native homeland, it's a chance to connect to her natural surroundings.
"Art has been my best friend," Olson said. "I could trust the way I feel about nature. I always loved the beauty that was in this world."
Olson's paintings form a collective consciousness of sorts, pieced together almost as picturesque souvenirs but divorced from notions of tackiness or kitchiness. She is refreshingly joyful and chipper throughout her series on her favorite places, making each one seem more memorable than the next. A hazy horizon dips into a burst of gold flowers, slowly inching their way across a green meadow; Porter Trail is highlighted by accents of purple and yellow. These are small devices that when taken as a whole present a story about the kind of California Olson sees and is fascinated by.
"Every season is so different here," she said. "I love to see the color of the changes. If we would take the time to look at how beautiful things are there wouldn't be so much nastiness in this world."
After documenting Santa Barbara County and the surrounding areas for so many decades, Olson said she's definitely noticed a lot of changes. The wine industry has taken over a lot of areas and businesses but it has also brought more interest in art. She said while there is a lot of art in the community, artists can still have a hard time making a living.
But Olson said she continues to pursue it out of passion.
"You have to do what you love," she said. "Being able to express what's inside you, that's what I like to put in my paintings. It's a genuine love for nature, and I think it comes through in my work."
Arts and Lifestyle Writer Rebecca Rose ama l'arte. Contact her at [email protected].
