Meet the Artist: Angela Oster
By Kelli Comer
Local artist Angela Oster finds delight in the wonderfully weird. She brings her vision to life with the delicate monsters, ornery oddities and wide-eyed weirdies that grace the photos of her Instagram page.
“I put art in front of my eyes as often as I can,” says Angela. “I never know where the inspiration for my next picture will come from—it could be a vintage greeting card, a still from a silent movie, a contemporary fashion advertisement or a video clip of an old amusement park ride.”
Angela currently gains inspiration and motivation from art newsletters, artists and art critics she follows on social media. She has high hopes that festivals of the local art scene will be back in 2021 and plans to participate so she can share her whimsical weirdies with the masses.
Angela attended the Cleveland Institute of Art and studied video, animation, fiber and performance art—almost everything except illustration. As a collector of books and vintage holiday décor, Angela is constantly on the hunt for her next oddity. Much of her inspiration comes from making her art. One idea leads to the next one, inspiring her to bounce between making small sculptures and creating one-of-a-kind drawings.
Angela’s process begins with a tiny scribble on scrap paper or on a page in her sketchbook. Once the pencil sketch is complete, she will blow it up in Photoshop and print it out to the size needed, then trace it.
“I find that nothing has the life and energy of that original pencil scribble,” Angela explains. “I do my best not to kill that spark by the time I finish the picture.”
For the line drawing, she uses permanent ink finished with watercolor, gouache and DayGlo. She also makes small sculptures and ornaments.
“I am looking for the sweetness in a spooky world,” Angela smiles.
“My goal is to be playfully macabre—kind of like holiday cheer with a tiny twist of subversion. It took me a while to make the kind of pictures I wanted to make, but once that finally happened, I was off and running. I hope to delight and amuse people, with a little shade of darkness thrown in.”
To reach Angela, you can email her at angelajoyoster@gmail.com. For more information, visit AngelaOster.com. To shop online, visit her Etsy shop, AngelaJoyOster. Follow her on Instagram @OsterJoy.