Olive Ayhens

Olive Madora Ayhens (born 1943) is an American artist, active since the 1970s. She is currently based in Brooklyn, New York.

Olive Madora Ayhens was born 1943 in Oakland, California. She attended San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) and graduated with a BFA degree in 1968 and a MFA degree in 1969. In 1971, she joined a group of female Bay Area artists that often exhibited work together.

She moved to New York City in 1996. In 1999, Ayhens received the World Views residency with studio space on the 91st and 92nd floors of the North Tower at the World Trade Center (WTC) through the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC). She attributed this residency to inspiring her love of painting New York and other urban landscapes, as if they were living creatures.

Her work is neo-expressionist and often features dream-like landscapes, both urban and nature-based. The paintings often have a saturated color palette.

Ayhen's work is included in various public museum collections including the Oakland Museum of California, the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, among others.

In 2006, Ayhens was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship for Fine Arts. In 2012, Ayhens was awarded the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant for "Painting and Sculpture".