(NECN: Alison King) - For more than 25 years, artist and designer Sigrid Olsen built her brand. From artwork sold at crafts fairs, to a 50 million dollar clothing line. Then, last year, a business setback put the Gloucester Massachusetts artist back at square one. But not for long.

Sigrid Olsen is bursting with enthusiasm for her latest venture, Isla beach house. The seaside shack turned retail shop in the Rocky Neck community of Gloucester just opened Memorial Day weekend. It is a reflection of Olsen’s lifestyle these days: casual, colorful and fun.

Not long ago, Sigrid Olsen would have had no time for such a venture. For almost 25 years, the artist turned designer was growing her company of the same name, which became a major fashion brand.

The Sigrid Olsen clothing line was purchased by Liz Claiborne in the late nineties -- sold in major department stores nationwide -- ultimately becoming a $50 million dollar company.

It was all a heady experience for Olsen, a Woodbury, Connecticut native -- who began her career selling her artwork at craft fairs.

Olsen's talent was evident early on. Her father, an artist, encouraged his only child's penchant for drawing and painting.

Sigrid moved to Boston's north shore in the 1970s to attend Montserrat School of Art in Beverly. She soon moved to Gloucester and fell in love with this seaside community. It has been the source of her inspiration ever since.

Olsen became interested in printmaking. She developed a technique using potatoes as stamps - then found she could use rubber blocks to create the same effect. In 1984, Olsen met her original partner -- a salesmen in the apparel business, who immediately pictured Olsen’s artwork on clothing.

A serendipitous dinner with a venture capitalist provided Olsen with the financial backing to grow.

Then the big break.

Olsen: They happened to be in an acquisition mode at the time. They were looking for brands to acquire, small little companies that they felt needed the leverage of a larger company to grow.

Olsen: It became a life changer, but in the beginning it wasn't. It was just having to get used to corporate meetings and the hierarchy and who do you go to for what?

Over the next eight years, Olsen continued to live and work on the north shore, but there were weekly visits to New York and periodic trips to Hong Kong and Europe. And there were the perks -- like meeting first lady Hillary Clinton who was a big fan of her clothes.

Olsen: I don't get star struck very easily, but I was completely star struck. So by the time I met her the second time, she was running for office in New York City and the corporate offices of Liz Claiborne held a fundraiser for her campaign. And so she came in wearing the same outfit that I was wearing.

Sigrid Olsen had become one of Liz Claiborne’s top performing brands, but by 2007, having acquired more than 40 different brands, Liz Claiborne decided to cut back. At that same time, the Sigrid Olsen line had seen a drop in sales and it became one of the first lines to go.

Sigrid: It was a little traumatic. I just always turn everything around to the positive. So it was traumatic at first - but I thought ok, so where is the good in this. What is the lesson to be learned and then what's also... How am I going to make this work in my favor and give me a different life maybe than what I'm supposed to be doing?

It didn't take Olsen long to answer that question.

She returned to her roots as an artist. Her Gloucester gallery, attached to her home, is filled with everything she makes including her new line of hand painted ceramics and her signature paintings. Olsen opened the gallery in 2005 -- at a time when she was confined to her home - so all she could do was paint.

Zipping around Rocky Neck in her flip-flops and cotton halter-top, it's hard to imagine that Olsen is a breast cancer survivor, let alone 55-year old grandmother.

Sigrid: I love the small town feeling of Rocky Neck and the fact that I know all my neighbors and that I can ride my bike to the shop. So I don't want to lose that. But I do want a larger footprint of some kind.

That could include designing other Isla type stores around the country, writing a cookbook, maybe even designing clothes again someday...

Sigrid: I would do it completely differently than I did it last time. Much smaller, and much more casual and relaxed.

Olsen's husband and business collaborator, Curtis Sanders says Olsen's spark is in part an outgrowth of her art.