• Artist Statement
    I make paintings that explore the visual world with an interest in art history, social theory, landscape, and the materiality of paint itself. My subject matter ranges from impressionistic depictions of crowds to self-portraiture, and still-life from direct observation. My recent paintings reframe well-known works of art into personal narratives to pay homage to the artists who created them, and/or rescue certain imagery from its patriarchal forebears.

    My paintings are created in fluid layers with gestural brushwork and saturated color. I enjoy the problem-solving aspect of art-making and the decisions that get made moment-by-moment. If a painting does not come to a visually satisfying conclusion, I will likely cut up the substrate and repurpose it into a new form or installation. My interest in materials has led me to incorporate other media like paper, ceramics, vinyl, and textiles into my practice.

    About
    Ursula Gullow is a visual artist living in Asheville, NC. She received a BA in Sociology from the State University of New York at New Paltz, NY (1994) and an MFA in Studio Art from East Tennessee State University in 2024.
    Gullow began exhibiting her paintings in 2001 while living in Seattle, WA. Her work has been included in exhibitions at The Asheville Art Museum (2019) and The Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh (2022). Her social engagement project, One is a Crowd was produced and installed over a period of two months at Artspace in Raleigh, NC (2017), and she was a resident artist at the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts in the summer of 2021. She has also completed artist residencies with The Gil-Society in Akureyri, Iceland (2005), and Jentel Arts Organization in Banner, WY (2019). She has twice received the North Carolina Regional Artist Project Grant (2009, 2019) and she is a 2020 recipient of the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund’s Money for Women Artists Grant.
    Gullow taught painting at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College for over ten years before embarking on her MFA candidacy at ETSU in Johnson City, TN. She has been an active participant in the arts community of Asheville, NC having worked as an arts writer, event organizer, and arts administrator since moving there in 2003.

    For more information about Ursula Gullow's studio practice, MFA experience and personal projects please visit her blog.

    "Her most recent series of work showcases her talent for combining the abstract and the representational - accessibility with visual intrigue." Joanne O'Sullivan, BoldLife Magazine

    "The images are emotionally arresting, flecked by joy but shadowed by something decidedly uneasy." Melanie Bianchi, Verve Magazine

    "Every brushstroke crescendos with energy. Her color choices are vibrant, her narratives open-ended." Connie Bostic, Mountain Xpress

    "The finest of her work is simultaneously folksy, epic and quietly revolutionary." Douglas Vuncannon, Indyweek.com

    Ursula Gullow's paintings can be viewed and purchased at The Haen Gallery in Asheville, NC.