Vanessa Osmon

AQ is our series of hardcover catalogs celebrating extraordinary women artists. Available on Amazon. Visit the AQ Catalog Webpage to learn more.

AQ Volume V artist Vanessa Osmon, born in 1978, is originally from Southwest Florida. She was a Bachelor of Fine Arts candidate specializing in Drawing at the University of Central Florida (1996-2000) and holds a Bachelor of Science in Art Education (2002-2005) also from the University of Central Florida. Additionally, she has a Master of Fine Arts specializing in Painting from Savannah College of Art and Design (2021-2024). She studied under professional painter and portrait artist Dominique Medici from 2021-2023. She is a member of the National Association of Women Artists, the Pastel Society of America, and the Alabama Women’s Caucus for Art. She has been in numerous group shows throughout the United States, including New York City. As a military spouse, she lives a semi-nomadic lifestyle but currently calls Huntsville, AL home. Currently, she is interested in the lived experience of her fellow military spouses and exploring feminist issues.


https://www.vjosmon.com/portfolio/disrupted-military-spouse-portraits-

What inspired you to become an artist, and how did you decide to commit to this path?

I’ve been an artist for as long as I can remember, but I didn’t decide to commit fully when I was almost forty. I grew up around a cohort of makers, so creating has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I wanted to be an artist, even when I didn’t know what that meant. However, I did understand that being an artist was all-consuming; if I was making art, it was all that I could think about all the time. My brain would be on the easel or floating around in the stories and content that my work explored. In my twenties and thirties, I didn’t know how to manage the mental demands of being an artist with that of a wife, mother, teacher, and military spouse. So, out of necessity, I focused my creative energies on being an art teacher and pushed the fine artist to the side. However, as I entered middle age, COVID happened. In many ways, that was the tipping point. I became frustrated and disillusioned with the politics of teaching and irritated by the challenges that military spouses continually faced. The necessity to create art reached a critical level and demanded that I finally commit. I quit teaching high school and switched my focus.


Could you share the story or concept behind your recent work?

As a military spouse for twenty years, I create abstract portraits and figurative works that draw from the lived experiences of myself and fellow military spouses. Statistically, military spouses are 92% female and comprise a small percentage of the current US population (less than 0.3%). We relocate every 2 to 3 years, leaving behind family, friends, and careers. I focus on this small subculture, expressing our nomadic lifestyle, the struggle with identity, the friends we make, and the community we form, often highlighting moments of beauty and profound heartaches.
While the visual subject matter is essential, my process carries the most weight. Leaning into the descriptive power of line, I utilize it to define figures and allow spray paint, gouache, and oil to destabilize them. My figures are rendered, painted over, and drawn again. This process is repeated to construct layered surfaces of loosely painted figures. My figures are never fully resolved, a visual representation of our transient lifestyle, but also because I believe it is difficult for the military spouse to reach her full potential. This process mimics our chaotic lifestyle, and I use it as a form of representation in my paintings.

I begin each painting by meeting with a spouse or several spouses, listening to their stories, and photographing them. In many pieces, small stenciled tick-marks, groups of four, representing the term “Sponsor’s Last Four,” are embedded in the portrait. This term and these marks signify an identity erasure that occurs as the spouse is absorbed into the role of a military spouse. For other works, it is an experience shared or a common idea that is the focus of the work, as in "Coffee for Two, All My Friends Are Not Here" and "Say, See You Soon."


What was the most challenging part of your path so far? How are you navigating this obstacle?

The most challenging part was being vulnerable enough to explore my thoughts and feelings about being a military spouse. This also extends to the spouses who have opened up to me and have been a part of my work. Since much of the military culture is about “toughing it out” and “resilience,” it should be no surprise that this attitude also spreads to military spouses. That being said, it was a significant step, one that I carry with much responsibility, to open our community up and express our lived experiences through art. Yet, the belief that my work is essential has helped me face this obstacle. If I can offer a glimpse of what it feels like to be a military spouse and show some of the sacrifices and support spouses provide, my work is worth its vulnerability. The vulnerability outweighs the benefits of being seen.


What role does experimentation and exploration play in your artistic practice?

Experimentation and exploration have been and continue to be vital to my process. While I use different materials and methods to “disrupt” my figures (my attempt to express the chaotic and nomadic lifestyle), I continue to follow “happy accidents” and cultivate them in my everyday practice. This involves a continual conversation between my work, process, and intent. It demands that I stay open and just like the military spouse lifestyle it requires that I often reinvent myself (in this instance, through my mark-making or process).


Do you have any beginning or end rituals before creating?

I have a “coffee notecard ritual” that happens every morning. At the beginning of each studio session, I will converse with my pieces. With a little 3” x 5” index card and a Micron pen, I create bullet lists of what I see. Then, I will break these down further: What is wrong? What is good? What do I need more of? What direction should I go? Etc.

Then, most evenings, as I bring my studio session to a close, I free-write in my sketchbook about how the day went. It’s just a few minutes, but I try to leave any frustrations or doubts in my sketchbook so they don’t affect my work the next day. If I had a fantastic session, I leave those in the sketchbook to refer back to them when I need a little boost of confidence.


What message do you hope your art conveys to the world?

I feel like military spouses are overlooked, underappreciated, and underestimated. My paintings are a way to put the military spouse’s experience into the world and have our story seen and told.


Share a mantra or favorite quote that keeps you going.

Be brave. The only way through is to go through and go through your way.