Cove Living Magazine: Interview

“Every artist stands on the shoulders of other artists.” – Frank Olt

The North Shore is a patchwork of towns and hamlets whose dwindling Gold Coast mansions dot the landscape. For Cove resident, Professor of Art, and Resident Artist, Frank Olt, inspiration is shaped from the land, the stories and the artists who’ve come before. One such famed artist, Louis Comfort Tiffany, lived a breath away from Laurel Hollow. His mansion, Laurel Hall, was the location of a residential school for artists. Tiffany worked in glass and ceramics at his factory in Queens and his studio in Laurel Hollow. “If you think I would stand on the shoulders of an icon like Tiffany, the answer is yes. Tiffany was a multi-faceted hybrid artist. I consider myself to be the same in that I work in multiple mediums. I draw, paint, sculpt and create ceramics.” Ceramics is Frank’s central core, working in the medium since he was 11 years old. en dealing with ceramics you have the help of a kiln, you never quite know what is going to happen. That sense of surprise—I got hooked on that.

-Excerpt from Cove Living Magazine (Cover Story) by Jean Daniels & Ann Balderston-Glynn / Photography by Ann Balderston-Glynn.