Earl Olsen
Artist’s Statement
Photography has been my life-long passion starting at the age of eighteen while stationed in the US Air Force in Morocco. I am self-taught and have pursued the art of seeing and the craft of capturing and printing the photographic image all my adult life. The sub-title to my photography is “Seeing the Unseen” as I always strive to find beauty in the commonplace that surrounds us everyday.
As Ernst Hass once said “If there is nothing to see, yet you see it – that is poetry. If there is something to see, and everybody sees it – that is observation. But if you can make something out of nothing and make everybody see it – that is poetry in photography.”
A few years ago I switched from film to a digital camera. My archival fine art prints are printed on fine-art paper using carbon pigment inks. Every effort is made to use acid-free material throughout the printing, matting and framing process.
Awards and Recognition
August 2009 Anacortes Arts Festival – “Best Artist of the Festival” Award
September 2007 Featured Artist, Whidbey Island Studio Tour
June 2005 Edmonds Arts Festival, Juried Art Show, First Place Award
August 2003 Period Gallery, Omaha, NE, Abstraction VI, Award of Excellence
June 2002 Edmonds Arts Festival, Juried Art Show, Honorable Mention
April 2002 Seattle Art Museum – Volunteer Honoree Photography Arts Council
August 2001 Period Gallery, Omaha, NE, Abstraction IV, Special Recognition
June 2001 Edmonds Arts Festival, Juried Art Show, First Place Award
June 2000 Edmonds Arts Festival, Juried Art Show, Honorable Mention
June 1998 Edmonds Arts Festival, Juried Art Show, Third Place Award
July 1995 Arts Council of Snohomish County, Third Place Award
June 1995 Edmonds Arts Festival, Juried Art Show, Second Place Award
July 1994 Northwest Poets & Artists Annual Calendar, Honorable Mention
June 1994 Edmonds Arts Festival, Juried Art Show, Second Place Award
September 1993 Reflections of Lynnwood, Juried Photo Show, Third Place Award
July 1993 First National Polaroid Transfer Exhibition, First Place Award
September 1992 Reflections of Lynnwood, Juried Photo Show, First Place Award
June 1992 Mercer Island Visual Art League, Arts Festival, Honorable Mention
September 1991 Reflections of Lynnwood, Juried Photo Show, First Place Award
June 1991 “ Mercer Island Visual Art League, Arts Festival, Honorable Mention
Selected Gallery Exhibitions
March 2010 Brackenwood Gallery, Langley, WA
August 2005 Sandpiper Gallery, Old Town, Tacoma, WA
October 2004 Whidbey Panoramas Gallery, Coupeville, WA
July 2004 Ideation Gallery, Olympia, WA
August 1997 “Water Wisdom Series” Commencement Art Gallery, Tacoma, WA
July 1996 “Pogacha Restaurant Gallery, Bellevue, WA
November 1995 “Vertebrae Series,” Benham Gallery, Seattle, WA
May 1995 Blue Heron Gallery / Vashon Allied Arts, Vashon, WA
July 1994 “Abstractions in Bronze,” Library Gallery, Lynnwood, WA
June 1994 Jensen’s Books & Gallery, Everett, WA