When Ursula Gullow takes a notion, it turns into an obsession, and eventually an installation. While the Asheville-based painter and instructor makes many detours, such as a series in 2019 inspired by a residency in Wyoming, she’s perhaps best known for two seemingly divergent themes — her popular collection of crowd paintings, represented by Haen Gallery, and her ongoing self-portrait series, begun in 2013 and continuing “indefinitely,” as the artist says on her website. (Eighty of the more than 2,000 self portraits were displayed at Asheville Art Museum last year.) Gullow tells Asheville Made that she’s done a few crowd paintings since the pandemic began, but with “different approaches … smaller format, flowers replacing forms, some faces masked, etc.” For now, she’s keeping the newest expressions of her crowd theme close to home. Instead, she gave us “self portrait 10-13-20,” noting that “this resonates much more with me these days.”
Ursula Gullow teaches online classes and workshops; subscribe to her painting newsletter for more information (ursulagullow.com).
— Ed.