Alice Orth: Artist, Mom, and Mompreneur!
Just because you're a mom doesn't mean you have to give up your creativity and passion for art. Novato mom and artist Alice Orth shows her paintings in exhibitions and shows throughout the North Bay, including area wineries. Her work can also be seen during the annual Marin Arts Council Open Studios, which are coming up this weekend, May 10 and 11, 2008. We asked Alice to tell us about herself, her family, and what it's like to be an artist and mompreneur.
Please tell us a little about yourself. What's your background?
After completing an AA in Fine Arts at the Collage of Marin, I attended and graduated from California College or Arts and Crafts [now called California College of the Arts] with a BFA in Interior Architecture. Encouraged by family and friends to pursue my love for art, I continued to paint alongside my design work. I discovered painting to be more gratifying than design and spent several years creating custom murals and mixed media on canvas. I am also the mother of a very charming four-year-old boy, and wife to an incredibly supportive husband. A couple years after the birth of my son, I passionately returned to painting solely on canvas. It allows me to be the best me.
How did you get started in art?
I started painting at a young age, with supportive parents and a very influential grandmother. I came from a creative and talented family. It gave me the creative foundation which is an important ingredient to my being and my art.
What kinds of art do you make?
I create abstract paintings on canvas and paper using acrylic paints. I like to describe myself as a colorist who creates a unique expression of myself through my art. I enjoy embracing color and texture and taking the viewer to another place, at times taking risks with emotion and working it into the finished canvas.
What's your greatest inspiration?
Life in it's most simple form—nature and the changes of seasons, emotion and change, travels and the passion for color and texture. Again: LIFE! And being one with my paints to express a moment in time.
Where can people go to see your art?
I have found my artist home at the North Bay Artworks in Novato, where I have a studio space amongst other artists. I participate in yearly Marin Arts Council Open Studios. This year my studio will be the second weekend in May, May 10 and 11, 11 am to 6 pm. Northbay ArtWorks is located at 7049 Redwood Blvd #208, in Novato; www.marinarts.org. For future shows and images of my art, please visit me online at: www.FineArtByAlice.com
