HERMANTOWN — Olivia Wolcott wants to keep painting, even if it’s on the side.
The 18-year-old Hermantown High School senior is set to graduate with a 4.0 grade-point average on Sunday, then head to the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities to study medical laboratory science and, the plan goes, land a job in a hospital microbiology lab or maybe a blood bank. Wolcott’s grandfather was a microbiologist who would let her use a microscope he kept at home.
“And I always thought that was really cool,” she said. Biology, Wolcott said, is her favorite subject in school, and the “individually driven” work of a lab scientist appeals to her introverted side.
Her art can take on a similar individualistic, almost meditative work ethic. Wolcott first used oil paint in a 9th grade art class at the high school, and has been working virtually entirely in that medium since then. Wolcott is one of the best artists to come through Hermantown High School, principal John Muenich said.
Jed Carlson / Superior Telegram
Each of her paintings can take months.
“You can start out, a painting can look one way and then you build on it over time and you let those layers dry,” Wolcott told the News Tribune. “You can keep building and molding this paint until you get it to where you want it to be….If you change your mind about something, you can always paint over and completely change your trajectory of what you’re making.”
She works in a closet in an annex of the school’s art room. A lot of her portraits juxtapose their subject with an object, such as a trio of paintings that set classmates of Wolcott’s alongside different pieces of fruit.
“There’s a lot of different expressions you can do, and people are so dynamic. There’s a lot you can say if you use a person as your subject matter that’s sometimes harder to say with just an object,” Wolcott said.
A portrait of a friend alongside strawberries, then, considers youth and the figurative consumption of people. A second portrait of another friend with apples considers damage and how damaged people might be treated, and a third of yet another classmate alongside a grapefruit is about how people treat themselves, Wolcott explained
Jed Carlson / Superior Telegram
There were more grapefruits in that third painting but Wolcott painted over them as she went.
“They’re there,” she said, “but they’re hidden now.”
Each is based off of a photo the artist took of each subject, but they’re abstracted somewhat because Wolcott also incorporates elements of her own appearance and skin tone into each. She chose the model for each portrait because part of their face or their complexion resembled the fruit.
Wolcott said she plans to keep pursuing art after she graduates high school this weekend. She hopes to take art classes at the U.
“I don’t think I can stop,” she said. “I’ll definitely do it on the side.”
You can reach Joe Bowen at 218-720-4172 or
jbowen@duluthnews.com
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