We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Evy Olsen Halvorsen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Evy below.

Alright, Evy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I have always been an artist, but I didn’t have much courage early on, though my father supported me, it’s obvious that he bought the proper sketchbook for me when I was six, but my mother just thought it was nice. I was extremely shy, introverted, partially because I was an immigrant child but also, I was the eldest and expected to care for the siblings. I had a strong sense of responsibility which I was taught from my dad while my mom just expected me to help her and behave.
My dad, being an immigrant, didn’t know how to get me into art classes and such, but he was proud of my work. If I had had some direction from an adult, like at school that would have helped considerably. I did take community college art classes, but they were boring, (unlike my excellent high school classes) so I thought that maybe I couldn’t be a good artist. I was too shy to ask questions, but I had been aware of the Cornish Institute of art as a teenager and thought that was too elite for me.
Many years of frustration had to go by before I decided that there was nothing else, I wanted to do so at 46 I enrolled at the Cornish College of the Arts. Best decision I ever made. Still paying it off but it was well worth it.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I began drawing at a very early age. I recall always sketching and have the proof in a black and white snapshot that my dad took of me sitting on a stump in the woods with my sketchpad on my lap, I was six. All my life I expected that I would be an artist of some sort, but daily life gets in the way and especially my insecurities.
It wasn’t until I was older that I knew I had to be the one to create the reality I wanted. At the age of 46 I went back to school and got my degree in fine arts from a very good art college. I still had to support myself, but my daughters were on their own, so I worked my landscape business. It is easy to put off one’s important work when one has to pay the rent.
Always creating art but never full time, I didn’t take myself seriously enough though I did teach art and ran an arts organization, so I was still pursuing my life work.
With the support of my husband and daughter I have a comfortable life and have been focusing on my art full time.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

even though I felt I always knew what I wanted it took me until I had sold my business, divorced and scooted my girls into their lives before I went to a real art school. Cornish college of the arts, an excellent grounding education in the foundations of the discipline and at the same time encouraging the freedom to do what you needed to do. The best part of waiting is knowing and appreciating what you are paying for. I was one of the oldest students and it was encouraging to be exposed to young energy. Of course, this was the late 90’s and viewpoints were more open and less strident, plus it wasn’t dangerous to walk downtown at night alone. Feeling safe is essential to progress as a human. It wasn’t easy, I had to work to support myself, take a ferry and buses to get to school but I also had the opportunity to read lots of books and meet people. The lesson is that it is never too late to expand your world, I gained confidence from the exposure to different mediums and challenging viewpoints to my work. That degree helped me to see myself differently, as competent and capable of change for the better.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I have found that a surprising number of people don’t understand or appreciate artworks. I have always been aware of art since there was some in our home that my grandfather painted. Above our fireplace was a landscape, which depicted an area near my birthplace in Norway. In Norwegian homes it is common to have real art on the walls, purchased locally, no prints. I attribute the difference in our cultures to our school system, the lack of art education and the cultural lack of interest. Sure, if you attend a well-funded or elite school you will be taught the classics of literature and the arts and their place in history. That discriminates against the less well-off children who grow up not knowing why or what they are missing. Learning about the arts teaches observation and interest in history as well as the ability of other people to be able to see things you couldn’t imagine. When I owned a retail store, gifts and imports I became aware of the reactions of the public. Many people were interested in the original garden art or imported Asian pieces but most just glanced at them. The Japanese tourists however were more distinctly fascinated and asked many questions. I attribute this to their historical respect for the arts and rigorous schooling in their history.
Japan chooses artists that are living national treasures. This country fights over funding the National Endowment for the Arts.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.evysart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evyhalvorsen/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artistevy/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evy-halvorsen-holstein-9685142a/