Lindsay Overbey.Touch and Go, 2023. Acrylic, Spray Paint, Graphite on Canvas. 24 × 24 inches.

This June, The CAMP Gallery proudly features Lindsay Overbey as our Artist of the Month. A Memphis, Tennessee native, Overbey’s artistic journey is rooted in resilience and self-discovery. After battling skin cancer at a young age, she turned to art as a form of healing and exploration using her experience as fuel to tap into her unique creative voice.
 

Overbey’s work is marked by bold textures, vibrant colors, and unexpected shapes that immediately draw the viewer in. These elements aren’t just aesthetic choices—they act as a getaway, a portal into memories and emotions. Through layered surfaces and experimental forms, she invites us into abstract environments that feel deeply emotional and entirely individual. She uses experiences, both lived and imagined, to tap into her creativity. Each piece becomes a meditation on life’s complexities, encouraging us to reflect on our own inner landscapes. The vibrant colors and odd shapes can trigger emotions of uncertainty, apprehension, and curiosity—but along with these feelings comes the joy and a sense of freedom that define Overbey’s riveting work.
 

As a multimedia artist, Overbey draws inspiration from the environments she explores. Many of her pieces resemble collages, where contrasting elements are united into a singular emotional narrative. There is no fixed subject in her work; rather, the focus lies in the emotional impact. What do you see? What do you feel? What past experience does this awaken in you? Freedom and letting go of the difficulties in life, as well as diving into the unknown, are key when viewing Overbey’s work. Her abstract forms serve as both release and revelation, encouraging the viewer to surrender to the moment, to feel fully, and to find meaning in the intangible.
 

Join us in this Q&A and step into a space where color, form, and emotion collide.

What is impacting your practice at the moment?

Lindsay Overbery: Being open to trying new things and always learning. Exploring new landscapes and environments ignites my creativity and deeply inspires my work. There is an excitement and urgency to relay that information- colors, shapes, movement and remnants that stay with me. I have been using mark making and shapes as secret symbols to represent memories, feelings and desires much like icons on a map. 

What work are you most excited to make next?

LB: I am excited to be participating in CAMP’s Women Pulling at The Threads of Social Discourse: Don’t be Absurd & look forward to creating a new fiber piece for the gallery.  I am excited to showcase the dichotomy, tension and insanity of the characters' differing perspectives in the text All Men are Mortal (1946) by Simone de Beauvoir through applique, textiles, free motion sewing and hand quilting.
 

I am also seeing a shift in focus to exploring shapes as solitary objects in my paintings. 

Lindsay Overbey. Victory Flight, 2023. Wire wing armature, thread, fabric, yarn, buttons, doilies and pearl beads. 36 × 24 inches.

What first comes to mind when you think of the month of June? Do you have a personal connection with it?

LB: June is always a marker for Summer. It also usually starts with a trip to the beach and time for slowing down. Exploring new landscapes and environments ignites my creativity and deeply inspires my work. There is an excitement and urgency to relay that information- colors, shapes, movement and remnants that stay with you. It is a grounding time of the year, where I put my bare feet into the earth and bring my studio outdoors more. 

In regards to your process, does the concept of the work precede the color palette, or vice versa? 

LB: It varies.  Sometimes I go into the studio with the intention to just make the work as it comes to me.  The concepts and elements are free flowing.  In that case, I let the color palette come naturally to me and each color influences the next. Recently, I have become more intentional with intuitive sketching and finding ideal shapes. I then take the most interesting compositions and pull them into procreate to work them digitally first. In that case, the color choices come to me after the concept and they are more calculated as well. I then paint the digitals that most excite me. The paintings don’t always turn out the exact same as the digitals, but it is a totally new way of working for me.  It is nice to switch things up in the studio and keep evolving.  

Lindsay Overbey. Eyes Full of Stars, 2024. Acrylic, colored pencil, wax pastel, and spray paint on canvas. 12 × 12 inches.

Do your colors maintain specific emotions or roles in your art, or do they vary by piece?  

LB: I love this question!  The idea of colors holding specific emotions interests me and color relationships/harmonies heavily influence my decisions. I don’t have a deliberate code of colors and the roles/emotions they play in my art, but now I’m thinking maybe I should. Hah!