Olympia McEwan

“I choose to live by my mantra, “Creativity is Our Superpower.”

Olympia McEwan’s output is as varied as her interests. Over the past ten years, Olympia has been absorbed by issues such as championing women’s portraiture in public spaces, gathering contemporary reflections on the German occupation of the Channel Islands, fundraising for medical aid for Ukrainian refugees, and highlighting the fragility of the natural world through her paintings and exhibitions. Olympia’s work can be found in private collections in the Channel Islands and further afield, and has several pieces in the permanent collection of Guernsey Museums.

About the artwork, The Three Graces

“This is a painting of clarity in colour and design, with the intention of reflecting the lines and luminosity of a stained glass window.”

Olympia’s interest remains with the subject of sustainability challenges, and is finding poetic parallels with the writings and work of Victorian polymath, William Morris. She is deeply inspired by Morris’s aspirations for his art, politics and literature, and his struggles with capitalism.

“I feel so many resonances with William Morris - his aesthetic choice of beauty, his passion for a better world, and his love of nature. My work hasn’t always been explicitly in response to the subject of William Morris, but everything my works stands for reflects the subjects he wrote about, campaigned and revealed through his work.”

Olympia’s “The Three Graces”, is a homage to the famous painting, Primavera by Sandro Botticelli - the hands of the Three Graces in the original painting are based on the three Charities from Ancient Greek mythology. They are said to symbolise grace, social joy, artistic inspiration and goodwill - all reflected in the ethos of this Radical Beauty exhibition for Olympia.

Botticelli’s work was largely forgotten for over 400 years, but thanks to William Morris, alongside his close collaborators - John Ruskin, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones - a renewed interest in the Italian Renaissance master came into being, as they championed his work.

Addendum

Is Olympia at the beginning of her trajectory as an artist? Well, yes. Putting her profession as a teacher to one

side, Olympia began to paint in earnest in 2016. She is now a full-time practising artist, and considers herself in the early stages of her art career, as she looks ahead to future possibilities. There is the Japanese concept of “Oubaitori” - people, like flowers, bloom in their own time and in their own individual ways. Olympia sees her career in a similar way. You can see more about Olympia’s work on her website; www.olympiamcewan.com