Rhonda Oglesby

Artist Statement

You need to know that I am a textbook A-type personality. I have a BS in math and in computer science. My career of three decades was to find errors hidden among thousands of lines of computer code. I am detail oriented, efficient, organized, and risk averse.

I’m a very strong visual learner. To think, I have to have a pencil and paper. To remember something, I have to see it. To understand something, I have to draw a deconstruction.

When I did graphic design the mission was to communicate, in a split second, what a viewer needed to know. Logo design was an especially delightful challenge. In less than one-square inch you can make a business unforgettable.

These things explain why my work tends to be small in size, reductive in composition, and accessible in materials. This is reflected in the artists I first fell in love with: the obsessive details of Leonardo, the economic forms of Braque, and the common mediums of Liechtenstein.

I love making marks on paper. The numerous bins of every variety of pen and pencil can attest to that. (I also love paper!) But mediums with less control, like watercolors and oil pastels have helped me to see the world as more than a collection of lines.

Because of my overly practical personality, my subject matter tends to be about strong emotions. The visual side of me needs to show what I’m feeling.