Viola
"Art is something that makes you breathe with a different kind of happiness" Anni Albers. My name is Viola and I was born and raised in Germany, but have lived in the L.A. area since 1996. I started experimenting with different mediums at an early age. The first medium I fell in love with was mirrors. I would smash them and make collages with broken mirror pieces and sell them. I was discovered along with Diane Kruger by Elite Modeling agency in Hamburg and worked as a model and singer all over the world until 2005. My career allowed me to travel to 60 different countries and I became passionate about learning of different cultures, food, customs, architecture, and art. One of my favorite trips is to Vienna to view the golden art of Gustav Klimt. I am obsessed with churches. I have found the most beautiful churches are in Eastern Europe. The terrible beauty of amazing architecture destroyed by poverty is haunting-Vilnius in Lithuania being one of my favorite places. I became obsessed with illuminated manuscript-the darkness illuminated by gold leaf and light inspired me. The Book of Kells in Dublin is probably my favorite, I often travel to Dublin and relish each opportunity to visit the Trinity College Library where it is on display. Diane Avis, my art teacher and mentor, taught me everything I know about painting. She always pushed me beyond my limits. Every time, I sit down to paint I hear her voice in the back of my head: “Work from large to small…find a stable point...step back…use paint to paint…don’t mix palettes…use your plumb line…lightest light and darkest dark...stay loose.” After years of charcoal sketches, set ups and live drawing, I studied old masters such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Vincent Van Gogh, Edouard Manet, Camille Pissaro, Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin, Rembrandt van Rijn, Edgar Degas, etc. at Mission Renaissance Fine Art School in Pacific Palisades, Ca. from 2003-2008. The first time I exclusively used a pallet knife was when I duplicated Sea at Ogunquit by Edward Hopper. I fell in love with the use of the pallet knife-how you could apply really thick and juicy paint on the canvas, create more depth than you could with a brush and take “mixing high” to a whole new level. Visiting the tombs in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, I was fascinated with the darkness of the tombs and the illumination of the gold hieroglyphics. Soon, I began to combine thick paint applied with a pallet knife with gold, copper, and silver metals...I had found my own style. In my personal life I enjoy being a mother of 2 boys, have been teaching Art Appreciation at my son's elementary school for K,1st and 2nd grade for 3 years, sing in the Bel Air Church choir, enjoy scuba diving, horseback riding, skiing, golf, tennis, Bikram yoga, swimming, photography, cooking, baking, knitting and sewing. I would love to share my passion for art with you and can't wait to see you at the studio to let loose and create some fun art. "Earth without art is just eh"- Go. Make. Art.
