About
Misty Ogle (b.1978) is an artist from Chattanooga, TN. As far back as she can remember, art has been a part of her life and a way of expressing herself. Her father was an artist, and when she was a child, she started painting with his oils that she found in the garage. It was here that she fell in love with the texture and depth of color. She’s been influenced by Frankenthaler, de Kooning, and Mitchell for most of her life.
Ogle uses oils, brushes, palette knives, brayers, and other large squeegee tools in her paintings with a focus on shape, color, and texture. Ogle’s artwork is considered a marriage of linear and organic, embracing calm and chaos. All of her current works are impacted by her adventures whitewater kayaking infused with dreams and imaginings. She gathers inspiration from her paddle trips on the rivers, roads and trails, and even from the constellations at night camping. To see a place in person is only one way of looking at it; in her paintings she wants people to see what they can’t in a live view.
Ogle’s latest work emerges from a spectrum of dancing colors, shapes, and textures inviting the viewer to embark on an introspective journey as if looking through a kaleidoscope of dreams. Lines and shapes play a pivotal role in her work, guiding the viewer’s gaze and creating a sense of movement and direction. Space and time play a big role in Ogle’s work as well. The lines twist and intertwine, symbolizing the various paths like a map of her experiences and connections she’s encountered throughout her life and beyond. As shapes appear and dissolve, the viewer’s mind can wander freely, untethered by logic or reason, blurring boundaries between the tangible and abstract. Her paintings represent the complex relationships, experiences, and emotions portrayed in her own artistic language that shape our existence. Ultimately, serving as a reminder that even in the midst of chaos, there is always potential for peace, beauty and growth to unfold.
Ogle received her Bachelor’s degree in English and minors in Art and Theology from Lee University. She then went on to do an Art Apprenticeship program at the Urban Art Institute, attended Graduate School at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for English Literary Studies, and then back to college for a degree in Applied Science for Massage Therapy at Miller-Motte Tech where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and made the Dean’s List. She has also been a Sports Massage Therapist since 2005 and has her practice on the Northshore. Now she spends most of her days creating in her art studio. Ogle currently exhibits locally, but has sold her work all over the United States and internationally in Canada, Belgium, England, France, & Germany. When she is not in her studio painting, you can find her off on a river adventure somewhere whitewater kayaking and gathering inspiration, or just dreaming up a new painting.
Proteus & Triton | oil on canvas | 48 x 30 inches |
"The reason I like to paint is because I like to create things you can't see in real life. "Proteus" and "Triton" came from a water-filled dream and progressed from a single image into a fascinating diptych. They conjure thoughts of Neptune, so they are named after two of the planet's moons. Proteus is the Greek god of "elusive sea change," while Triton is the messenger of the sea. These two pieces can stand alone, but work together much like one would imagine the gods governing the turbulent waters.”
“While living in Michigan, Ogle was able to experience the power and awe of the Great Lakes. Someone recently said, "The Great Lakes are in our DNA." The inviting beaches of Lake Michigan and the ominous power of Lake Superior have inspired her as an artist. Their influence is rarely straightforward. Instead, she takes a strand of her natural memory and allows it to grow on the canvas into a mix of images and emotions that transcend its original form.”
Ocoee River at Hell’s Hole Rapid.