The career path of a fine artist is hardly ever linear — for many, there is an ebb and flow of work, side gigs and financial stability. But for some, full-time artistic employment provides both creative expression and meaningful work.
Hope Olson ’14 has spent the last ten years working as a painter, specializing in large, colorful acrylic works. She typically paints four collections per year, each comprised of 10-15 paintings. In general, her highly-stylized work showcases quotidian moments of life that transport the viewer to days gone by through a lens of youthful modernism.
This spring, “See How the Farmer Waits,” a collection of 14 original works, was on display at Phaeton Gallery in Charlottesville, Virginia, April 4-28. In developing the body of work, Hope took inspiration directly from James 5:7, which says “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.”
Not every painting directly portrays agricultural work, but all relate back to the idea of land and resource stewardship in a variety of forms, with a pervasive theme of patience.
“I knew that the theme for the show was going to be working the land and cultivation,” Hope reflects. “That theme to me is very reflective of life and the Christian life. [Author] Eugene Peterson wrote about the idea of long obedience in the same direction and I feel like that is a very important value to me. We may not see the fruits of our labor and our commitment for a while, but the work still has so much merit.”
Hope found it helpful to consider what could be learned from people whose work requires long periods of patience, intentionality and careful planning.
“Scenes of land yielding harvest and being worked on are obvious metaphors of long obedience in the same direction,” she says. “A lot of the commitment of the Christian life to continue serving and working is also knowing that we may not see the reaping on this side of Heaven.”
Hope knows from personal experience that the “long obedience” can be wearisome. Last summer, she was in a season of depression and experiencing burn out after years of grinding work. She was encouraged to take a sabbatical to travel around the Midwest to interview other artists about how they keep their work fresh. With plans on the horizon to make that trip a reality, Hope returned to her brushes with an invigorated sense of purpose and readiness to experiment.
Most of the art in “See How the Farmer Waits” are painted in Hope’s signature style using bold, saturated colors. However, as she mulled over the idea of patiently waiting, Hope was inspired to artistically explore other techniques and media to push beyond her established creative boundaries. The result was four monochromatic acrylic pieces, painted on raw canvas.
“Those were a divergence from my normal approach,” Hope says. “It is always really imperative for artists to try something new — that’s how we problem solve. For years, the use of color has become my signature expression. So, when you remove that color variable from the experiment of the painting, you’ve reduced the potential success of the painting down to a strong composition and strong mark-making. As I sat in the theme, I realized that I didn’t want color to be a crutch. Ultimately these four pieces became a beautiful metaphor for my own work: it’s as if the paintings are stuck in the middle stage of the work; we haven’t seen their full harvest yet.”
When the completed paintings arrived at the Phaeton Gallery, the gallerist was surprised to see the black-and-white art, but Hope remained confident in her vision for the collection. She has built a strong client base and it is very common for her shows to sell out. However, she’s also learned that it takes a lot of small steps in the same direction to yield great results, and that not every seed planted yields a successful crop.
“When you’ve gotten to a point when you’ve had some success as an artist, you have (for better or worse) some leverage to advocate for your needs with the people you work with,” Hope says. “But that doesn’t mean that everyone will understand your creative decisions right away. You hear about big breaks, but most of my artistic success has been slowly cultivated over a long period of time as I’ve established my style.”
“I’ve done so much pivoting lately,” Hope continues. “I’m naturally a pretty black-and-white person — it’s not hard for me to make up my mind. What I’ve had to learn is that ‘I’ve changed my mind’ is a complete sentence. It’s ok to just try something new. If it isn’t you, just let it go. Earlier in my career there was a lot of people pleasing. But I’ve really developed a confidence in where God has me at this point.”
Hope knows that despite the highlight reels and sales announcements on social media, the realities of an artistic career are not always easy or fun. It can take months to research, sketch, make studies and actually paint each collection, in addition to managing relationships with galleries and clients. The work can be challenging and slow, so Hope has prioritized collaboration over competition. She frequently mentors young artists and periodically co-hosts workshops about how to build a strong art business. 
“I’ve appreciated the generosity with which other people have encouraged me,” she says. “I love paying it forward by talking with others about their artistic journeys. Comparison is the thief of joy, particularly in creative work. My message to other artists is just to keep doing ‘you’ authentically — your own success will follow.”
For the foreseeable future, Hope plans to continue working as a fine artist. But, to maintain longevity in her career, she knows she needs to continue to stay curious in the work and steadfast in her obedience to the Lord.
“I want to focus on creating meaningful series for exhibitions through which I feel like I can thoughtfully share my Christian faith,” she notes. “I can’t do the same exact thing for the next 30 years. So, I keep pushing myself as a creative and leaning into where God is leading me next.”
For more information about the Department of Art and Digital Media at Olivet, visit Olivet.edu/Academics.
