Layers of Time and Place: Sara Olshansky on Her Artistic Evolution and Winning the Bill Fischer Award

October 17, 2024

By Stephanie Godward, Communications and Marketing Director, College of Arts & Sciences

Sara Olshansky’s paintings evoke feelings of movement and excavation, pulling from her artistic obsession with visually exploring concepts of space and time, while also reflecting her work in nature where she draws a deeper connection to the Kentucky landscape.

“In gardening and doing a big planting, I am thinking about layers, levels and heights, and you can see hierarchies in my paintings,” Olshansky said. “Weeding or digging, it’s a type of excavation; bringing the ground up. I am trying to bring moments behind in front, which you can see most clearly in my work with double panels, revealing what’s underneath, digging into the ground of the paintings.”

While mixing the metaphorical and the literal is a new approach for Olshansky, a 2018 Hite Art Institute Alumna who recently won the Bill Fischer Award, a $10,000 grant to advance her art in Louisville, a fascination with the concept of time has always influenced her work as it has evolved.

“Bringing the past to the front, and intermixing the present and the past – trying to pull things forward; that feels like excavation too, in a way,” she said. “I am trying to take it a step further, trying to make the materials demonstrate time – there are several iterations of the same landscape in one picture, and these moments are where I have masked with tape, vinyl, or some kind of veneer that protects it, so that past versions of this landscape are revealed with the newest versions. It’s additive subtraction, a constant renegotiation of space, and in renegotiating the space, it becomes a demonstration of time.”

Olshansky graduated with a BFA in 2D Studio Art, a BA in Art History, and a minor in Spanish Language.  In 2017, she attended Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona where she participated in contemporary, Spanish fine art practices and engaged with international art institutions across Europe through studying abroad. Olshansky is a draughtsperson and 2D media artist interested in exploring addition and erasure of imagery on a single picture plane and how this technique might mirror construction and perception of lived experience. When she is not making art, she manages, maintains, and restores the Great Meadows Foundation’s Nature and Art Preserve in Crestwood, KY.

“This fascination with time started when I was at UofL and I was mainly doing figure drawings in motion, and the intention was to sort of consolidate moments with friends and family onto one picture plane,” Olshansky states. “I was thinking about how some bits could come in really clear detail – what if one moment sticks out at you, you can’t forget it if it’s a memory, or you are anticipating it, and you are seeing it very clearly; that is where the detail would come in. If it is framing time’s passage, the empty space is potential for action – maybe it has not happened yet, but it could. Or is it erased, and something you have forgotten?”

Grant Award Supports Olshansky’s Growth as a Louisville Artist

The Bill Fischer Award for Visual Artists is designed to make a meaningful impact on the career of a visual artist residing in the Louisville Metro Area. It is funded by the Artist Bill Fischer Foundation for Working Artists at the Community Foundation of Louisville. Louisville Visual Art serves as the administrative partner to the project and competition process.

The grant supports Olshansky in paying off her studio space in Louisville for the rest of the year, will allow her to commission getting new panels made, and will also give her more resources for painting, along with expanded artistic space mentally to execute larger projects.

“My focus is 100% on what I am making, and I think that is important for artists because it can be so energy consuming to piece things together and make ends meet, and artists are very good at that. I think when you see an artist in their groove and they don’t need to think about those things, they are making amazing work,” she states. “I have the space, and if I have the funds and the time, I can work at a scale I have never done before.” 

Artistic Growth at Hite Art Institute and Beyond While Studying Abroad

At UofL, Olshansky had the opportunity to study abroad in Spain, which not only opened her up to new global art, perspectives, and a new understanding of the world, but also helped her to advance becoming fluent in Spanish.

“By learning a new language, you can also talk to more artists; I have friends here who began only speaking Spanish, and I don’t know that I would be able to talk with them if I hadn’t gone to Spain and studied,” Olshansky said. “Those artists are influential and have different perspectives. If we circle back to the conceptual side of this work, it’s exploring alternatives for perception. If I can learn and change and expand my understanding of the world, I can make better art, because it is more contextualized and informed by experiences that are not within my small city."

Connecting to the Local Art Community

For Hite Art Institute students, Olshansky encourages them to connect to the art community in Louisville to support their own artistic growth.

“Go to exhibitions, learn about what people in your city are making, and what is relevant to the people here. What are the conversations in contemporary art in Louisville? It is important to connect your practice to others,” she said.

Click here to stay tuned for upcoming work from Sara Olshansky.