Olga de Chica

Olga Alba de Chica (born Filandia, Departamento del Quindío in August 21, 1921^[1][2]) is a self-taught neo-primitivist Colombian painter. She has achieved some recognition in Colombia and abroad for her works.

Introduction

Olga de Chica paints in a style that has been described as "primitivist", which she developed organically without the benefit of any formal artistic training. Her works are mainly populated landscapes that strive to communicate the look and feel of the typical, if sometimes slightly nostalgic, life in rural Colombia. Her works are noted for their vivid colors, and charming, if somewhat fanciful representations of Colombian flora and fauna. Her works are informed by her Colombian upbringing in the early part of the 20th Century and today. Her paintings are said to contain the flavor and freshness of her home state. Rural life, small towns and the coffee region of her native Colombia are the core of her work, where the family unit stands as the keeper of tradition and customs that make it unique in the social fabric of the nation.

Biography

Olga de Chica was born in Filandia, Colombia, in the coffee region called Quindío. She attended the Sacred Heart of Jesus High School in Filandia and the School of Fine Arts in Manizales. Olga started painting as a child, when it is said she used squeezed flowers in an attempt to create lively colors. However, the bulk of her lifetime was spent as the wife of a locally beloved school teacher, and the mother of two daughters and a son. It was not until she was approaching her fifties that she became a professional painter.

Honors and distinctions

1976 Five Outstanding Colombian Primitivist Painters: -Regional Art Gallery, Medellín -a Gruta Art Gallery, Bogotá

Representing Caldas, Annual Art Show El Cable, Manizales

1978 Representing Colombia, First International Festival of Art, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

1979 UNICEF International Art Committee, New York, Dual Selection of paintings for UNICEF Greeting Cards and UNICEF Calendar^[3]

1980 First Prize, Fourth Annual Juried Art Show, Women's Center Art Gallery, University of California, Santa Barbara

Magazine Cover of Caribbean Review, Spring 1980, Florida International University

Invited by Yugoslav Primitivist Artists, Maison des Arts Spontanés et Naifs, Brussels, Belgium

Visión Plástica de Caldas, Caldas Cultural, Vol. I, October 1988, pg 72-73 Annual Government Publication, Manizales

1984 Cover, Telephone Directory, Quindío State, Armenia

Cover, Arts and Culture Supplement, Sunday Edition‑La Patria Newspaper, Manizales, 9 September 1984

Poster "International Women's Day", International Theater Festival, Los Fundadores Theater, Manizales

1985 Outstanding Women in the Arts in Caldas, La Patria Newspaper Section A, pg 8, 18 May 1985.

Distinguished Citizen of Quimbaya, The House of Arts and Culture, Quimbaya

Distinguished Citizen of Filandia, The House of Arts and Culture, Filandia

1988 Poster: 60th Anniversary Caldas Liquor Industri, Manizales

1989 Quindío: Land of Coffee – Triptych. Reproduction on 2 x 3 mts. Billboard on The Art Park Abadía Méndez Circle, City of Armenia Centennial

1991 Poster for the International Coffee Fair, Office of Tourism, Manizales

1992 UNICEF International Art Committee, New York, Dual Selection of paintings for UNICEF Greeting Cards

Seeds of Change – 500 Years of Cultural Encounter and Exchange: Itinerant Art Show of the Smithsonian Institution, Museum of Natural History, presented at USA embassies and consulates.

1993 On Camera, Third Edition, INRAVISION TV Bogotá. Interviewing Four Artists from Caldas

Dual Selection for Greeting Cards 1994, Lorencita Villegas de Santos Children’s Hospital, Bogotá 1994 Dual Selection for Greeting Cards 1995, Lorencita Villegas de Santos Children’s Hospital, Bogotá

Personalities in Our Cultural World, Papel Salmon, La Patria Daily, Sunday Edition No. 95, p. 2-3, 31 July 1994

UNICEF International Art Committee, New York, Selection of painting for UNICEF Greeting Cards for 1995

1995 Art Video including Olga de Chica (On Camera, Third Edition, INRAVISION TV- Bogotá) at the National Museum of Women in the Arts - Bibliographic Collection of participants in the United Nations 4th World Conference of Women, Beijing, China, August 1995.

1997 "Coffee Plantation" Selection for the month of August, University of Caldas 1997 Calendar, Manizales

1999 Awarded the Medal Founders of the City and Distinguished Citizen by the City of Filandia on the 150th Anniversary of its foundation.

UNICEF International Art Committee, New York, Selection of painting for UNICEF Greeting Cards for 2000

2005 Selected to participate in the YWCA "Voices" Art Exhibit to benefit the YWCA National Capital Area

Collections

Olga de Chica's paintings can be found in the following collections, among other places:

Stateroom of the Colombian Naval Missile Frigate A.R.C. Caldas - ( Originally purchased for World Tour cruise.)

Colombo-American Bi-National Center, Manizales

The U.S. Embassy, Bogotá, Colombia

Museum, School of Fine Arts, University of Caldas, Manizales

House of Primitivists, Bogotá

Art in Public Places, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Washington, D.C.

House of Social Services, Los Fundadores Theater Center, Manizales

La Gruta Art Gallery, Bogotá

Conference Hall, Central Home Loan Bank, Manizales

House of Cultural Arts, Montenegro, Quindío

Colombo-American Bi-National Center, Pereira, Risaralda

House of Cultural Arts, Anserma, Caldas

House of Cultural Arts, Society of Public Works, Armenia, Quindío

Reception Hall, Caldas Liquor Industry, Manizales

DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Washington, D.C.

References

External links

• http://ywcanca.org/art_exhibit.asp#Artists
• http://secondsightdc.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_archive.html
• Personajesdefilandia Blog with newspaper review of the artist Publicado en el diario La Crónica del Quindío October 30th 1996