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The South Arkansas Arts Center welcomes local artist Maria Oliver and her exhibition “Sources of Light” to the Lobby Gallery now through November 9th. The Visual Arts Committee will host an artist’s reception for Oliver on Thursday, October 26 from 5:30pm-6:30pm.

“I’m very grateful to be a part of the art community of El Dorado,” said Oliver. She creates her art with the principle in mind that every material has not only a physical form but also contains a living spirit within so that all the components in her art have an inner light and a secret purpose of their own.

Mythological art and book illustrations are what initially drew Oliver into the world of art. She sees them as visual renderings of the metaphysical being brought into our reality with an intent. “I believe that art is magic, it can free the mind and our body will follow. Art teaches us to feel empathy, to think critically, and transports us to worlds that science cannot reach, be they real or fictional, like fantastical dreamscapes of your favorite book.”

Oliver was born in Belarus in 1977 during the Soviet era where she grew up simultaneously witnessing two different realities – the reality that was promoted by the state and the overwhelming majority and the reality that favored self-expression and freedom of thought but had to be kept under wraps. This led Oliver to a lifetime interest in symbolic and hidden meanings be it in music, visual arts, prose, or poetry.

While Oliver’s passions are exploring world cultures, mythology, spirituality, history, and anthropology, she has trained professionally in graphic design. She began her training in graphic design in 1994 in Belarus and then moved to the United States and completed her training in 2004 at the City College of San Francisco. Oliver currently works at the South Arkansas Historical Preservation Society in El Dorado.

For more information on the Maria Oliver exhibit at the South Arkansas Arts Center, please call the SAAC office at 870-862-5474 or visit the website at www.saac-arts.org. SAAC is located at 110 East Fifth Street, El Dorado, Arkansas.