Olivia Heisterkamp Art and Design stylized logo, script font, blue lettering.

hi there!

This is a black and white image of me standing on the right side of a decorative door. The door is centered in the image and it features a diamond patter in the windows. I am wearing a vertical stripped jumpsuit that ties in the front. My hair is down and wavey. I am looking off camera, smiling.

Hi my name's Liv. I am a land and seascape artist who found a love for painting while spending time in the great outdoors. I aim to capture vast spaces on small canvases by playfully applying color and movement into my pieces. I am available for commissioned work. If you are interested or would like to see other work of mine, check out the blog! I'd love for you to visit.

design persona

For this website project, we started with creating design personas - outlines of the look we were going for. This image is the cover of my design persona. It features my name, Olivia Heisterkamp in all lowercase sans-serif text in the right upper center. Below my name, the words design persona are found in a blue script font. The d and the a at the beginning and end of the word paring is pulled out to the edges of the page to create a wave effect. At the bottom left of the image is my evergreen tree logo. A warm grey strip covers the top and bottom of the page

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@oliviaheisterkampart

the adrift collection

this image features a variety of paintings from the adrift collection. It also has various painting materials - ranging from a white basket of paints, to a palette, to a cup of brushes, to tubes of paint scattered in the bottom left. All of the pieces depict water. As you move more into the foreground, the canvases get smaller. The largest pieces are also some of the darkest while the smaller ones feature a rang in tones. This image was converted to black and white.

I have sat down at various points over the last four months trying to define this collection. What does it mean to me? What am I trying to say? What draws me to water? That is the only answer I have come up with. I am drawn to water because it is full of contradiction. It is calm yet chaotic. Life giving yet treacherous. Constant yet unpredictable. It is full of history and necessary to our being. Through painting it, I feel its rhythm and movement and spirit. I aim to capture the beauty in the untouched, applying whimsy with sureness.

But what am I trying to say? All semester I have been searching for it, delaying laying down a foundation of explanations and instead picking up a paintbrush, hoping meaning will appear. However, I have come realize by keeping my purpose undefined, each piece begins living. I am able to place value in the moment and pull what I need from the water, just as I hope the viewer is able to do. Its contradictions become its strengths as we see what we need to see. This collection is adrift.

adrift: (adj.) not anchored; moving with the sea and wind; floating without being moored or steered

As I move forward painting water I hope to continue transforming vast spaces on small canvases. I have set only two parameters: smaller canvases are for larger expanses where shoreline and skyline can exist in a condensed space; larger canvases are for close up, in depth depictions of water entangled with light. This juxtaposition of big meets small and vice versa mimics the contradiction of the waves themselves.

So find what you need – tranquility, a push, reassurance, or relief. Let the water hit your feet as I invite you into my world of miniatures.

my resume

final reflection