Beth-Ann Wilson, 39, has always had an offbeat approach to art and her personal aesthetic. She recalls with some humor that she used to get in trouble at her Christian preschool for having Garbage Pail Kids stickers on her lunch box.
But in her professional art career, her love of maximalism and unconventional painting techniques have made her a staple in Baltimore’s art community. She’s the owner of Night Owl Gallery in Station North, which she first opened to showcase her own work, but it has since evolved into a stage for budding artists to showcase their creations.
Even people who are not entrenched in the local arts world might recognize her work—whether it’s the painting she painted for Sally O’s restaurant or the beer can labels she’s designed for the Baltimore-based Oliver Brewing Company.
“I love to paint, and I love the stories that can be told through paintings,” Wilson says. “I do portraits, landscapes, plein air pieces … Some people say that every portrait is a self-portrait, because the image of yourself is always going to be part of the pieces you create. That’s probably true for landscapes, too.”
Wilson has been creating art ever since she was a child, as she came from an art-loving family. Her mother started out custom sweatshirts at craft shows and would sometimes take her daughter along with her. But it wasn’t until her father died from cancer while she was in middle school that she decided to pursue art as a career.
In order to cope with her loss, she started taking an art class focused on college portfolio preparation and later attended a magnet arts high school in her hometown of Long Island, New York. In a way, Wilson has come full-circle, as she has served as a portfolio reviewer herself at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She also recently started teaching an undergraduate class on creative entrepreneurship.
“I really enjoy it, because it invigorates me as both a creative and a business owner,” she says of the class. “It’s easy to get stuck in a rut, but I’m someone who thrives on new challenges and collaboration.”
Wilson is primarily an oil painter, though she often uses acrylic paints as an undercoat or incorporates collage elements into her work. She takes a more “painterly” approach to her pieces, using large, visible brush strokes and unexpected undertones. A field of green grass might have visible splotches of blue, orange and even hot pink.
She says that this is to account for the different angles people might be viewing her art from. Onlookers might notice different details when looking at her art close-up than they would from farther away.
“It’s an investigation for people to get closer and investigate more,” she explains. “I really am conscious of the viewer’s body when they’re looking at a painting. My work does best when viewed up-close, but you can also look at it from far away and get a completely different view. It’s like a camera lens.”
Wilson also dabbles in photography, often taking her own reference photos of landscapes to translate into paintings. Many of the pieces she is working on right now are inspired by the time she spent in France on the Château d’Orquevaux International Artists & Writers Residency. Participating artists spend two to three weeks in the countryside of Champagne-Ardenne, where they are provided with food and board, art supplies and ample time to create new works.
She notes that she applied on a whim after seeing Instagram ads for the residency, not expecting to get in, but was sent an acceptance within a few hours.
“I called my mom, because my mom’s kind of like my life coach. Like, ‘Mom, you won’t believe what happened,’” Wilson recalls. “And she’s like, ‘Bethy, you gotta go.’ And I was like, OK. We’ll figure this out, we’ll make it work. I took a leap of faith.”
Some of the pieces she completed while at the residency are still on display at the château.
Most of her work is traditional, but Wilson also does digital art using the Procreate drawing app on her iPad. The beer can labels she designed were digitally drawn, and feature Maryland’s native wildlife.
As for her future plans, Wilson will be displaying paintings made during and inspired by her residency at Night Owl Gallery in November. The gallery often hosts works from other artists, including art students from MICA, but she’s returning to her roots by showing her own work there.
“I was considering showing them at another gallery, but I was like, ‘You know what? This is my home. This is the reason I started the gallery to begin with,’” she says.
