Michelle Osman

Michelle Osman is known for her oil paintings of storm clouds that eddy and churn over narrow slices of land as well as figures in unusual settings and costumes.  Using thin layers of oil paint, in the tradition of Renaissance artists, Osman’s paintings verge on the hyperreal. 

Osman was born in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in 1981.  At the age of seven her family moved to Costa Rica.  Osman was raised in a family of artists who valued time making art and playing outdoors.  She returned to the US to earn her BFA and MFA from Montana State University.   She studied Renaissance painting in Italy, returning to teach there as a painting instructor. 

Osman has traveled extensively in the Western United States, rafting 400 miles of the Colorado river and exploring the abandoned architecture of the small towns in between.  The encompassing beauty of these places and the stories of the people in them are an ongoing theme in her work. 

Osman’s work has been exhibited throughout the country in Montana, Nevada, Alabama, Seattle, Oklahoma, Michigan, Wisconsin and California as well as Shanghai, China.   Her work is represented by CK Contemporary in San Francisco and Old Main Gallery in Montana.

Osman lives in Bozeman, Montana.   

 

* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 15^th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.