Olivia Gatewood is an abstract artist based in North Carolina.
Working in layered mixed media, she develops paintings that investigate surface, light, and spatial tension. Her compositions emerge through accumulation and erasure, balancing deliberate gesture with material unpredictability.
Gatewood received her BFA with honors from California State University, Turlock, and pursued graduate study in Ankara, Turkey. She lives and works in Rougemont, North Carolina.
Artist Statement
My work begins without a fixed image.
I build the surface slowly—layering, disrupting, allowing gravity
and pigment to participate in the outcome. Gesture is present, but restraint is equally important.
Color operates as structure. Light is activated through depth rather
than illusion. The paintings evolve as fields of tension—between
opacity and translucence, movement and stillness, control and release.
What remains is a record of presence.
-Olivia Gatewood
Recent Exhibitions
Tiny Gems— North Carolina Museum of Art Museum Store (West Building), Raleigh, NC
“Billie Holiday” — Kirby Cultural Arts Complex, Roxboro, NC
Alumni Exhibition — North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC
Featured Artist — Hayti Heritage Center, Durham, NC
Featured Artist ---Triangle Cultural Arts Gallery
“A Pop of Color” — Kirby Cultural Arts Complex, Roxboro, NC
“Musings of Olivia Gatewood” — Shaw University, Raleigh, NC
“Connected: African American Female Artists and North Carolina” — NC Central University Art Museum, Durham, NC
28th Annual Founding Members Invitational Exhibition — African American Atelier, Inc., Greensboro, NC
The Annual Black History: Artists’ Perspectives — Hayti Heritage Center, Durham, NC
Exhibition — Garner Performing Arts Center, Garner, NC
NEWSWORTHY
Olivia Gatewood honored by Governor Roy Cooper
https://governor.nc.gov/es/news/north-carolina-honor-african-american-artists-musicians-during-black-history-month-reception
https://durhamvoice.org/hayti-celebrates-fourth-annual-black-history-artists-perspectives-exhibition/
https://www.witn.com/content/news/Governor-Cooper-honors-black-musicians-artists-505826881.html
Dr. Joseph Gatewood Portrait by Olivia Gatewood at H@G