OverFlow Opening

From iconic views and buildings, to the tributaries of the Tennessee River, a natural energy flows through Misty Ogle Semanco's work. Overflow is a merging of bold abstract pieces commingling with her impressionistic styled paintings all portraying an organic movement towards water. These recent works are inspired by water's unique lifeforce, and the connections we make because of its constant flow.

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"Misty Ogle Semanco (b. 1978) is a painter based in Chattanooga, TN. Ogle’s artwork is considered a marriage of linear and organic, embracing calm and chaos. Her style of painting is impressionism, but often veers off to a more expressionistic approach that displays or conjures emotion. All of her current works are inspired by real people or places infused with dreams and imaginings. To see a place in person is only one way of looking at it; in her paintings she wants people to see what they can’t in a live view.

Having lived on the 45th parallel on the shores of Lake Michigan and the 35th parallel here in Chattanooga, Ogle’s current work is inspired by the natural beauty and horizons of both. Many of her paintings are influenced by particular places, yet feel familiar to any audience. The vibrant colors and deeply textured oils evoke a sense of new growth and rebirth. After a recent battle with breast cancer, her personal sense of renewal is an undercurrent in her newest work where solid ground meets vast sky, undulating water, and sprays of fresh blooms.

Ogle received her Bachelor’s degree in English and minors in Art and Theology at Lee University. She then went on to do an Art Apprenticeship program at the Urban Art Institute, Graduate School at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and then back to college for Massage Therapy at Miller-Motte Tech.  Now she spends her days creating in her studio. Ogle currently exhibits locally, but has sold her work all over the United States and internationally. When she is not in her studio painting, you can find her off on a river adventure somewhere whitewater kayaking and gathering inspiration.

On any given sunny day, paddlers flock to the river seeking cool water, camaraderie, and the challenges of whitewater that criss-cross through the wide swath of the Tennessee River Valley. Ogle captures these feelings and the beauty of our area's pristine waters in her series, OverFlow. These works epitomize the moments of companionship the paddlers rely on to tackle the next big challenge around the bend of a fickle river. Ogle knows firsthand the gifts of paddling the paths of the area’s rivers, streams, and creeks. She realizes on canvas the places typically only viewed by paddlers as they course through the veins of water that traverse Appalachia. 

From iconic views and buildings to the tributaries of the Tennessee River, a natural energy flows through Ogle's work. Overflow is a merging of bold abstract pieces commingling with her impressionistic styled paintings all portraying an organic movement towards water. These recent works are inspired by water's unique lifeforce, and the connections we make because of its constant flow."