Artist Seminar: Mark Olshansky, Needlepoint Artist
**This program is presented by the Guild of Berkshire Artists**
Join Mark Olshansky, needlepoint artist, as he discusses his work.
He says:
“I have a passion to create in wool these pictures from my mind, and now that I’ve been doing this for 40 years (with a brief 20-year hiatus), I have the skills to express my ideas in
the medium of needlepoint. I do it in needlepoint because I can’t do it in any other medium.
My work is intuitive, I don’t try to figure it out. It works for me, and the end result is all I care about. I study music while I work: I study the constructions of Verdi operas, Brahms
chamber music, Bach, and on and on.
My work is all Persian wool stitched on 10″ or 12″ scrim. I design each piece as I go along: I put a blank scrim on the wall and try to visualize what I want to do, and then I always do something completely different. Now that I’ve reached 80, I realize that I chased the wrong things. But it’s really never too late: creating these things is now my life, and it’s a joy.”
“I was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., was educated, drafted, married, started a family and went into business. At about my fortieth year, a friend introduced me to needlepoint at a party. It was meant to be a light-hearted accompaniment to the more serious activity of downing martinis with stylish canapes. Ten years later, I had created many tapestries, pictures, a large rug, and more. Everything was designed as I went along and was made from Persian wool.
In 1980 I stopped my art when my wife and I decided to wet our toes in the wine importing world. Twenty years later, we retired, and I immediately picked up where I had left off. The
procedure and material are the same today. In the past ten years I have produced many pieces of various sizes, and I have exhibited in over 100 shows, both juried and galleried.
My favorite way of working is creating pieces in series, such as Art and the Fugue, Mahler and Infant series.”
For more about the artist, please visit his website.
This program will be presented via Zoom, the program link is posted below.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81337808927?pwd=d1EwYzVRSXZ5enQrUGd3bWRScGtTdz09
ID 843 7074 1985
PW 002957