#Meettheartist
Meet Tamara English
"My paintings may be considered portals to interior spaces, to inner realms beyond the physical, and outside the rational; referencing nature and different cultures as a way to expand our sense of reality."
Meet Tamara English
"My paintings may be considered portals to interior spaces, to inner realms beyond the physical, and outside the rational; referencing nature and different cultures as a way to expand our sense of reality."
Tell us your artist story, some biographical info, when did you decide to be an artist? Why do you make art? Where did you study? Etc.
I have been an artist as long as I can remember. To me, each person has a reason for being here, a purpose, a life mission. Mine is being an artist, exploring themes of awakening to the presence of the divine, re-enchantment, and nature as a catalyst for discovering the sacred in life. I graduated from Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon in 2004. Since then, my work has been exhibited extensively in the US and internationally, including at the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Seattle Art Museum, and the US Embassy in Riga, Latvia. My work also appeared on Season Three of “Portlandia’ and was featured in a film about Portland artists called “Art: PDX, Artists In Their Studios.”
What do you want people to walk away with after experiencing your work?
Throughout the last 400 years of history rational thought has been pointed to as the ultimate tier of the mind’s capability. This romanticizing of the rational has meant the deconstruction of the enchantment of everyday life. Yet there are, as is now being discovered, levels of thinking and knowing that transcend rational thought. What happens when one accesses these new paradigms of thought that allow mystery and the inexplicable to exist in our day to day lives? What happens when one is invited to cultivate enchantment, the expanding of what is possible and even miraculous in life?
My paintings may be considered portals to interior spaces, to inner realms beyond the physical, and outside the rational; referencing nature and different cultures as a way to expand our sense of reality. The work invites the viewer to enter a contemplative state. Here one may find a sense of upliftment and well-being, and the experience of being nurtured by beauty.
What influences your work? Why?
The visual vocabularies of Islamic tile-work, Christian illuminated manuscripts, and 20th century particle physics serve as references for my work. The patterns found in the decorative elements of places and objects of worship reveal the movement of the energies of the inner worlds, making visible what transpires behind what appears. The interior of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul is enlivened with intricate patterns. The tile-work transports one to a place of awe and wonder. One can’t help but to feel the infinite raining down.
Elements of natural world also inform my work, through the felt senses such as the experience of the atmosphere of a lush forest or the beauty of a rose. The aliveness of the forest connects one to the aliveness inside oneself. Here, beauty of the world allows a quieting inside to invite contemplation of something greater than oneself.
What does it mean to you to participate in Hera an exhibiting artist for the In God We Trust exhibition?
It is an honor to be participating in the In God We Trust exhibition. I appreciate how art helps to get people talking and thinking about things that may not come up in everyday conversations. Religion in America is such a wide reaching and topical subject. It feels important to be talking about now. My hope is that the exhibition will also encourage individual reflection about our own relationship with what has sacred meaning to each of us.
With reverence and respect for the many ways that people worship and find connection to what has sacred meaning, my work explores what happens when we seek a relationship with the sacred outside any particular path or tradition.This is a dialogue inside oneself, seeking to understand. Is the Divine that I seek to be in relationship with kind and compassionate? How do I feel the presence of the sacred in my life?
Some people say artists are chroniclers of what is happening in the world. Yet, I consider my role as an artist to show what is possible for the future, a future that includes peace and respect for each other. If the visual vocabularies of these different traditions and cultures can harmonize on the canvas, perhaps they can harmonize in the world.
You can view more of Tamara's work on her website: http://tamaraenglish.com
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