Brooke Olivares is a representational painter based out of Sarasota, Florida, originally from San Diego,CA. She earned her BFA in Illustration from Ringling College of Art and Design in 2006 and continued further study at the Illustration Academy program for two summers.
Her background in illustration compliments her love of painting from observation and seeking to document the people and places that she is most familiar with. As a representational painter she looks to capture the subtle nuances of everyday life from an autobiographical point of view. Many pieces are composed to tell a story based on her family. Some pieces are more figure driven while others lean more heavily on the environment or still life. Olivares believes that creating work based on the people and places in her life gives the work a believability that you can’t get elsewhere.
Brooke’s influences include artists such as Rembrant, Degas, Repin,Cassatt, Sisley, Manet, Sargent, Bellows, Henri, Dunn, Mancini, Andrew Wyeth, Sarolla, Fechin, Lopez-Garcia and many of the Illustrators from the Golden Age of American Illustration.
Her work has received numerous awards including First Place in Painting from the Portrait Society of America's International Portrait Competition in 2016, a Finalist in 2017 and a Certificate of Excellence Recipient in 2023. Her works have been a part of exhibitions throughout the east coast including Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington DC, and Massachusetts. Her work was exhibited at the Cahoon Museum of American Art in Cape Cod, MA, and The Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, OH for the 78th Midyear Exhibition.
Several years after graduation she began teaching as an Instructor at her alma mater, Ringling College of Art and Design. There she taught numerous classes from Painting, Figure Drawing, Illustration and Mixed Media Courses. She taught at Ringling for 11 years until the birth of her second child in 2021. She now focuses primarily on her studio practice and raising her two children with her husband and fellow painter, Matteo Caloiaro. She is currently represented by Kiley Court Gallery, in Provincetown MA.
