We're Dreaming The Same Dream: Angel Oloshove's Transcendental Sculptures
How the Houston-based artist is bringing the shape of the subconcious into form
A Note on Roe v. Wade
There is a low hum of fury living beneath my days. I set out to publish this interview a few weeks ago, but I sent Angel a note saying “If something crazy happens, like Roe gets overturned, we’ll hold off.”
And here we are. It feels impossible to keep going. It feels even more impossible to explain the way everything changed overnight in a state like Texas. If you have the means, please donate to a local abortion fund now. It is so important we help each other when the government will not help us. We must demand better. We must do better. Abortion is a human right.
Same Dream: The Transcendental Work of Angel Oloshove
Whenever I try to explain the ceramic work of Angel Oloshove, a Houston-based artist, I inevitably just pull out my phone and start showing people photographs. Here’s why: The ombre-rainbow-ice-cream-sunset amorphous shapes almost resist description.
Oloshove’s expert use of atomized ceramic glazes creates a blend of hues that generate the same emotional response as a James Turrell piece.
The emanating light that glows from Oloshove’s work reminds me of my favorite Turrell quote: “My art has no object, no image, no point of focus.”
Artworks like Oloshove’s and Turrell — largely based on color, light, shading — can often bring the viewer to a place of self-reflection. As Turrell puts it, without a solid image to focus on, we must turn inward, into ourselves. The artwork becomes a meditation.
Oloshove’s work is only made more impactful by the wisdom of her titles. A sculpture might be called “She Blushed From the Heat of It” or “Dulling Ache of A Tender Longing.” Her focus on using phrases that create a story around the color of each piece is just one way her work is turning human emotion into tangible, beautiful objects.
Artist Spotlight: Angel Oloshove
I spoke with Oloshove about her work, the overturning of Roe, and what’s inspiring her lately. And even better? She sent over images of her newest creations, each more beautiful than the last.
Sarah Rose Etter: It’s impossible to start this interview without acknowledging Roe vs. Wade being overturned, since we both live in Texas. I wanted to make some space for you to speak on that, if you want to.
Angel Oloshove: Body autonomy must be intersectional. When a right takes away the sovereignty of the body this strips the person of humanity. This also goes for forced sterilization of indigenous people, refusal of gender affirming care for trans people, and the atrocities against people of color through the generations. This decision not only strips us from essential health care, it further goes to reinforce the states will over an individual’s body. We must continue to fight until each person has full power over body and choices.
SRE: We’re in absolute agreement there. It’s been a hard few weeks in Texas. I’ve just felt incredibly angry. But I did want to talk to you about your work. Tell us a little bit about how you got to where you are today. How did you begin making art? When did you start making work and what drew you to the practice?
AO: When I was 12 years old I decided that I wanted to be an artist. No one in my family had so much as gone to an art museum, so this really came out of left field. I started with painting, which I think can be seen in my attention with surface, color and form. In high school I found ceramics. I became obsessed with how the kilns worked, how clay was made, and the whole process. I joined an after school Clay Club. When I went to art school I majored in painting and drawing. Ceramics was always on my mind like an unrequited love but I thought that in order to be an artist I had to paint. I was still wrapped up in that “art vs. craft” trip.
I started making my own work in earnest about 13 years ago. I was taken with the complexity of clay. There’s a real commitment to material when working in ceramics and I loved that one couldn’t really fake it with clay. You have to meet the clay where it is at and once you know it, you can start breaking the rules. I wanted to make something look light and buoyant. I wanted to use bright colors. I wanted to have strange matte surfaces. I really wanted my work to feel like it was pulled out of a dream.
SRE: What are your three biggest influences?
AO: Visually, I would say I strongly identify with the desert transcendentalist Agnes Pelton, spiritualist painter Helma Af Kilnt, and filmmaker Maya Deren.
All three of these women worked in a way that visually articulated invisible worlds of experience. Pelton painted spiritual reality with an abstract visual language of color and form. With af Klint, she was in a sense channeling her abstraction through automatic drawing processes. She was ‘tuning in” and letting it flow through her. Maya Deren’s films, for me, fully articulate the experience of the dream realm.
I’m big into dreams. I sometimes have “message dreams” where I will be in my studio and all of my shelves are full of completed sculpture. I’ll wake up trying to jot down the color, mood, and energy readings of them. That doesn’t happen all the time, but it’s a gift when it does.
SRE: What’s the one piece of yours that you love the most?
AO: My favorite piece is a sculpture I made from a dream actually. It’s titled, “Same Dream”. I made it during a very fruitful first full body of work that felt completed. It has the aspects of a sunset sky with clouds trapped in a momentary bubble.
SRE: What are the main philosophical questions your work is interrogating?
AO: I’m exploring transformation and celebration of ecstatic ephemeral emotions. Visual art has a power to express a very complex set of emotions to the viewer. I’m also deep in the act of making and craft. I do deeply identify as a craft based visual artist. The ethos of making at the artist’s hand is important to me. The mastery of material and how to elevate or transform material in a new way.
Ceramic is one of the oldest materials humanity has used. It’s site specific, ceramic works from different parts of the world look different because the earth/mud itself is diverse in mineral and make up. In history it has been used to create spiritual implements and the essential domestic wares that were integral to the development of human kind. Clay connects us to our inherent humanity.
My work looks very different from ancient pots but the color I use and the abstraction I explore relates to the nuance of being a person in the digital 21st century.
SRE: Let’s talk about inspirations: What music do you listen to while you are making your work? Are you reading anything inspiring? What other artists are you currently obsessed with? Are you researching anything wild?
AO: I listen to a lot of podcasts. Right now I’m really into Pot Psychology and pretty much anything that Nicole Bayer does. I like a good chuckle! I love Bandsplain, which is a podcast that goes through the career of a musician and they play full songs from their catalog. The Kate Bush episode had me sobbing in the studio. Her genius and inventive brain is just out of this world. Listening to the life story of a legendary artist is helpful when working in the studio. I can identify with the cruddy times and the good times! It’s called a creative process for a reason!
Writing is a wild creative process to me and I really admire the world building writing affords. I like to read a Larry McMurtry followed by Bryan Washington and live in that duality of Houston storytelling. I love reading about Texas and the south. I’m a midwestern transplant so the tall Texan tales still have a romantic glimmer for me.
I’m currently doing research on early humanoid ceramic vessels. There was a series of small footed that were found intact from the bronze age. The story goes for years the researchers thought they were used to feel the elderly or infirmed due to the spouted lip. Years later the research team hired their first female member.
She noted that they were the perfect size for babies and small children to handle. The team made recreations of the vessels, filled them with milk and tested them on a baby. The baby was instantly able to hold the vessel themselves to drink out of. They found traces of human and animal milk proteins inside the original vessels.
Turns out, these were some of the first bottles found in archeology! The researchers attribute this innovation in feeding and earlier weaning of babies to a neolithic baby boom!
SRE: Tell us a little about what’s next for you.
AO: I will have a two-person show open at the Uprise Art in NYC on July 7th. There will be an online virtual opening aspect which will allow us to connect to people who may not be able to come out.
It’s a whole new body of work that I have yet to share with the public online and IRL. After my New York show I will start working on a solo exhibition with Form and Concept slated to open in early 2023. I’m working with the gallery director on some very exciting installation ideas.
SRE: We cannot WAIT, Angel!