Artist Talk: Olivia Hiester

Artist Talk by Olivia Hiester

Olivia Hiester is a painter and printmaker living and working in her hometown of Philadelphia, PA. Her work functions as a visual diary and tactile playground, a place for remembering, understanding, and imagining the events of her daily life. Her practice lies somewhere between writing poetry and going to the gym, serving as both a form of imaginal self-actualization and a simple physical ritual.

She graduated with a BFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where she was a recipient of the James J. and Frances M. Maguire Artistic Excellence Scholarship and the Raymond and Estelle Rubens Travel Scholarship. She holds a Barnes-De Mazia Certificate from the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, PA. In 2024, she received a grant from the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation. Olivia’s work has been exhibited in Philadelphia, New York, and Berlin.