BIO
Olivia Faith Harwood (b. 1999, San Diego, CA, she/her) is a painter who currently resides in Portland, OR. She received her BFA in Painting at Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2021. Harwood has been published in Portland Critics Picks in Artforum, Portland Monthly, Buckman Journal, Mutual Art and Art & About Portland Blog. She has received a Regional Arts and Culture Council Arts3C Grant and a Regional Arts and Culture Council Professional Development Grant.
Harwood has exhibited solo shows at Fuller Rosen Gallery in 2022 and 2026 in Philadelphia, PA, as well as a solo show at One Grand Gallery in Portland, OR in 2024. Harwood has been a resident at Vermont Studio Center and John C. Campbell Folk School. During October, 2026, Harwood will attend the Jordan Schnitzer Printmaking Residency with Master Printer Julia D'Amario at Sitka Center of Art and Ecology.
STATEMENT
Olivia Harwood’s mystical, maximalist scenarios have been inspired by memories of childhood, personal experiences and monstrous feminine. Harwood’s work harnesses her anger and frustration, but also her fondness and love. It intertwines girlhood memories with current headlines and allows her to cope however she needs to.
With influence from feminist surrealism, her natural/material surroundings, and pop culture, Harwood creates complex and loaded scenes. She empowers herself by painting her body in exposed positions, revealing and depicting experiences through a warped, surreal lens.
In her paintings, she wants the viewer to feel empowered, enraged and maybe even a little disgusted. She wants her audience to leave with a personal connection to the imagery and create their own emotional bond with the work.
The artwork does not keep its hands to itself.