Open Studio Tour artists Natalie and Earl Olsen bring the outside in

When you pull up to Earl and Natalie Olsen’s place on the cliff above Mutiny Bay in Freeland, there is a general feeling of inspiration.

This husband and wife family of artists clamor for the same muse as most — beauty in nature. And as all island artists seem to have discovered, Whidbey has it in abundance.

Both Olsens will be among the artists welcoming visitors to see their work on the Whidbey Island Open Studio Tour on Saturday, Sept. 29, and Sunday, Sept. 30.

Although Natalie Olsen is a weaver and Earl Olsen a photographer, the colors of the natural world figure predominantly in both their work and tie their sensibilities together unexpectedly in a marriage of artistic compatibility.

And for the six years that they have lived on the island, the Olsens seem to have found their place in the creative sun.

Natalie Olsen’s light-soaked studio off the main entrance of the house is dappled with the progress of many projects circling the three looms there.

It appears that this artist is so talented that she is able to even see a use for the scraps of her larger pieces that turn into exquisite works of art themselves.

Of the three looms, one is a large, simple machine made by Earl and primitive in nature. Olsen said that modern looms are becoming more and more high tech with computer generated designs and intricate patterning abilities.

“I find myself moving back the other way to more organic forms,” she said.

“On this loom, I can do anything I want.”

A weaver for 35 years, Olsen indulges her talents at the loom to create beautifully woven tapestries, colorful, soft-to-the-touch scarves and conceptually original wall designs that combine weaving with her love of silk fusion and metal pieces. Everything has an element of the outside world and the colors found in the garden or on the forest floor.

“Madrone trees, seedpods and lichens are themes I keep returning to; and apple green keeps popping up in my work,” Natalie said.

She also has a collection of hand-dyed silk scarves of sherbet-colored hues, pillows laced with luminous ribbons and sophisticated tapestries from commissions which have included materials as unique as silk ribbons and translucent rods of glass.

This is the fourth year on the tour for the artist.

“I love it when the kids come. That’s the most fun for me, so I have little looms set up for them to use,” she said.

Many of her tapestries are commissioned by collectors for homes and offices throughout the Northwest. Her work has been shown in the San Jose museum of Modern Art, in a San Francisco gallery as part of a juried show by the Contemporary Fiber Artists of Northern California, and through the Whidbey Weavers Guild here on the island, among other places.

In addition to the tour, Natalie’s work will be available at the “Seattle Weavers Guild Annual Show and Sale,” Oct. 25-27, and at the “Uncommon Threads 4” sale, at Greenbank Farm Nov. 2-3.

“We keep saying we are going to take a year off from the tour so we can do the tour ourselves,” she said. “Maybe next year.”

Entering through the front door of the couple’s home, visitors find a stairway lined with some of the photos that Earl Olsen has created in his 50 years as a photographer. The collection leads to his tidy basement studio and a temporary gallery of his work for visitors on the tour. Nearby is a large table where he does custom framing for his photographs.

Earl said the first inspiration that led to his “avocation” as a photographer was Morocco. He had been stationed there after joining the Air Force in 1955.

It was a good assignment for several reasons.

“They sent me there instead of Korea,” Olsen said.

The exotic location gave him the impetus to buy his first 35-millimeter camera, which he still owns. From that time on, Olsen said he was hooked.

“The thing that really holds an interest for me is the artistic ability to see, combined with the process and technology,” he said.

Until a year ago, Olsen was still using film. The experience of learning to use a digital camera and printer has offered a new set of challenges for him.

One of Olsen’s photographs, from his “Pacific Madrone Series — Bark Study,” is the featured artwork on this year’s Open Studio Tour publicity materials including the annual poster.

Photographs in that series — which will be on display during the tour — appear more like pastels or paintings, with their predominance of unearthly reds and greens, than photographs.

Olsen said he took the photos in Coupeville where the trees line Madrona Way just west of town along the edge of Penn Cove.

“Landscapes and nature get me out into the field,” Olsen said.

“My eye is drawn to visually strong design elements and the coloring of the Madrone trees look painterly. The colors are so vibrant; light comes out of it.”

Olsen said that his experience plays a large part in finding his subjects. He said he must spend a lot of time before he sees an opportunity for a photo and factors such as time of day and light play into what he shoots.

“Knowing when to look and where to go is important,” Olsen said.

In large part Olsen said knowing one’s equipment is probably the most instrumental factor in photography, so the camera can become an extension of the artist.

Browsing the photos on his Website it is apparent from an astoundingly beautiful body of work that Olsen is not thinking about his camera while shooting.

In “Morning Light – Amity, OR” a fog-soaked morning field and farm captures a feeling of that time between night and full-blown morning when the colors are soft, the birds are still sleepy and the quiet is the thing you notice most.

In another entitled “Two Red Barns – Lafayette, GA” there sits a couple of red barns in a green field beneath a vibrantly blue sky full of white clouds. The perspective of the photograph creates a feeling of motion as clouds speed away from the viewer toward the horizon.

“If you know your equipment well, then all the elements that Canon and Nikon have put into the camera will not get in your way,” he said.

The business of getting his work seen is tackled through exposure on his Website and at the major art fairs in Bellevue, Edmonds, Anacortes and, of course, the Whidbey Island Open Studio Tour.

“It’s quite an honor to be selected for the studio tour cover art,” Olsen said. It means recognition from the community; an amazing artistic community.”

The Whidbey Island Studio Tour is 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29 and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 30.

The Olsen studios are located at 5505 Shore Meadows Road in Freeland off Bush Point Road.

Natalie Olsen’s Website is www.natalieolsen.com and Earl’s is www.earlolsen.com. They can be contacted at 331-7709.

Patricia Duff can be reached at 221-5300 or pduff@southwhidbeyrecord.com.