Today we’d like to introduce you to Ali O’Leary.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina influenced equally by universities/academics and a rural Southern landscape. I attended a project-based school as a child and that is where I learned to think and live in an interdisciplinary fashion.
For me art, science, math, history blend into and contribute to one another. At Barnard College at Columbia University in New York, I majored in American Studies, focusing on race relations and Civil War/Reconstruction history. I wrote my thesis on photographs of amputated Civil War veterans and how these images depicted their reacclimated into society, once again blurring the lines between disciplines (in this case medicine, art, politics, and even gender studies).
In New York I frequented galleries, museums and shows, always taking my class-free-Friday to explore the diverse city. I always knew that I wanted to pursue a creative career and that my art classes never felt like work, so after college, I attended Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore to do an intensive Post-Baccalaureate in Fine Art. I lived in my art studio that year and fell in love with my community of artists there who fervently wanted to create and make a visual impact on the world around them. From there I went on to receive my Masters in Fine Art at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
While in grad school my artwork continued to incorporate pop cultural and historical references in more abstract and conceptual manners. After school and before returning to the South and moving to Atlanta, I lived in New York City for several years. There I worked in a fashion design studio and for an architecture firm. For the past 5 years have been teaching art and design to a wide range of students as well as doing freelance work in the Photography, Fashion, and Publishing.
I consider myself equally an academic and artist. I have exhibited in galleries across the Southeast and currently work as an Adjunct Professor of Art, Photography, and Design at Georgia Gwinnett College and Georgia Military College. I live in Atlanta and have a loving and supportive husband, Bryan, and 6-month-old baby boy, Shai.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Being able to hustle and juggle is a prerequisite to being an artist and an academic. These are poorly paid careers that are filled with uncertainty. I have had to be creative and innovative in how I support myself, taking and creating jobs (sometimes unrelated to art and sometimes more commercial than I would prefer) that allow for a simultaneous studio practice. There are few tenure/ full-time positions in Academia today, and I have had to grow more flexible with my time and more creative with my scheduling.
This can and has been a struggle and a learning process. Every artist I know works multiple jobs and is always engaged with how to market themselves better. There is no straightforward path or guidelines to success; even the idea of success is fluid. This is why I believe my passion for my fields help sustain me when the money and structure cannot.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I am a visual artist, focusing on both fiber arts and photography. My work explores our culture of amassing “stuff.” I am interested in how the time spent looking at digitally manipulated versions of physical reality, hoarding and an online ordering culture has impacted our understanding of the tangible, the historic, the archival, and the body.
I use handcrafted knits, one-of-a-kind remnants, fashion textiles and sleek photographs speak to issues of identity, memory, class and labor. The sewn elements reference craft, “women’s work,” Southern customs, and the maker movement.
Meanwhile, the printed aspects refer to traditional and new digital photographic processes. I create what I call “photographic tapestries” which I hope to engage and meld Southern traditions of quilt-making, embroidery and with contemporary photography and modes of image-making.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I know that it is rare to have a job that you feel passionate about and that I am lucky to make a living doing something I care about (both teaching and art). I am fortunate that I can say that the idea of needing to separate work and life is irrelevant when my work is what drives me to live more colorfully.
I have been very lucky in that I have a supportive and encouraging husband, family, and group of friends. Having a support system allows me to follow my creative dreams and at times pursue nonsensical art.
That said, the art world is filled with rejection (and the occasional green light). For every 100 shows, residencies, jobs, grants I apply for I get one. I believe you have to work very hard just to be an artist who is “lucky enough” to gain exposure and perhaps some prosperity.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.alioleary.com
- Email: alipageoleary@gmail.com
- Instagram: @alipageoleary
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