| Eddie
Olson featured
In anticipation of Central Idaho Art Association’s (CIAA) 50th Spring Show, May 4, 5, and 6, CIAA celebrates founding member, Eddie Olson. The 50th Show remains at the Bicentennial Historical Museum and will feature the art of founding members. 
Mrs. Edna (Eddie) Olson contributed to the founding of CIAA. She was the third Vice President, 1970, and contributed to the development of the newly formed club. In a Free Press interview of May 13, 1981, Eddie Olson recalled that she had two starting points in her painting career. First, a friend came to her home with some paints, brushes, and other equipment; in two hours she had an oil of her yard. The second starting point was in 1953 or 1954 when her oldest son gave her some watercolors. She furthered her skills and took instruction from Florence Johnston of Grangeville and from Ladd Arnoti in Cottonwood. She also took a workshop by artist Betty Lynch sponsored by the Montana Culture and Arts Society. The Grangeville resident painted about 20 to 30 paintings a year, most of them at a lake in Montana where the Olson’s spent their summers. Landscapes were a favorite subject for her work. Her many pieces of work include a charcoal portrait of her husband who was a dentist in Grangeville. She recalled that when he opened his practice in 1936, the Grangeville population was 1900. Mrs. Olson exhibited about a dozen paintings at a local bank exhibit in 1981. These included works in acrylics, pastels, watercolors, oil, and charcoal. The subject matter was mostly landscapes. “I prefer landscapes…I feel part of nature,” observed Mrs. Olson. She also displayed a painting of a niece, a ballerina; a still life of a basket of red berried leaves; a favorite fishing hole commissioned by an area fisherman; and a stand of birch trees, simply and starkly set on a brown background, painted in half an hour. Mrs. Olson competed in art shows, including the CIAA Spring Art Show in Grangeville. She noted that she really concentrates when she paints, thoroughly enjoying the activity. She had other hobbies, she said, but none as creative as painting. |
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