Tryon Painters and Sculptors will continue the series of Tuesday artists’ demonstrations on March 20, when the Art, Wine and Cheese event will present Joi Ostefjellse, an accomplished oil painter.
Raised in Voinjama, West Africa, Ostefjellse returned to the United States to study architecture at the Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. Later, she moved to New York to study with Colon Waugh, curator of the Stone Museum, and Warren Straton, who was a student of famed classicist George Bridgeman.
Following her studies in New York, Ostefjellse traveled to Germany, then to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she was resident artist for Galerie Alegria for 10 years. Ostefjellse then became resident artist for Bittersweet Galleries in Montauk, N.Y., for three years. She has lived and worked in North Carolina for the better part of 25 years, choosing to raise her family there.
Ostefjellse’s paintings can be found in the collections of Laurence Rockefeller, Irwin Shaw and numerous prominent families. Represented by Portraits Inc. of New York and private agents in the southeast, Ostefjellse balances more than 30 years of experience in commissioned work with a love of teaching. She has taught at the Peninsula School of Art in Wisconsin, Sheridan College in Wyoming, and Gallery 15 in Montana, preferring the warmth of the South while teaching at McDowell Arts Council Association (MACA) and in private galleries in North Carolina.
About her work, Ostefjellse said, “I am delighted by what I see, so I try to preserve that moment in oils. The next moment you can be sure the light will change and it could be painted again. Perhaps I am more awestruck by light than anything, what it moves across and highlights.”
Tryon Painters and Sculptors Art, Wine and Cheese demonstrations take place at 26 Maple Street in Tryon from 4 – 6 p.m. The event is free to the public and all are invited.
– article submitted by Christine Mariotti