NEWS

Spirit Embodied: Tamara English’s Verdancy Within

Essay by art critic Richard Speer

The imagery in Tamara English’s new series, Verdancy Within, is lushly botanical: blanketflower and ninebark, jasmine and mock orange, calla lily and sage twisting, branching, reaching, subtly stylized from northern Indian and Middle Eastern tiles and textiles or wholly abstracted from the artist’s fertile imagination. The soil from which the vegetation springs appears to be visible too, and beneath it, rendered in outline as though transparent, the vines and leaves soon to sprout; but appearances alone rarely tell the full story, and English sees far more than what the eye can physically apprehend. Beyond the literal, she sees the potential energy held in store by the vegetation in the paintings’ lower quadrant, which to her represents “the imaginal, idea, or intention, rooted in the Divine Mother, rising from the Ground of Being through the causal and subtle fields.” It is a vision of heightened awareness verging into magical realism, suggesting a wondrous presence in the process of unfolding.

Wilds Within

Two Person Exhibition Featuring The Work Of Tamara English And Kendra Larson

At the Art Gallery at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, OR

September 25 – October 25, 2023

The gallery is open to the public Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m

More info here

About the exhibition:

Wilds Within is an exhibition of landscapes about the experience of inner life, the interior of our beings, by Tamara English and Kendra Larson. Themes explored in these paintings include the nourishing aspects of Beauty and Awe, healing qualities of plants, and spirituality. English’s oil paintings reveal the buoyancy and vibrancy found in connecting with what has sacred meaning, and exploring how our inner worlds are like gardens or forests that may be tended to and savored when one is spiritually engaged. Larson’s acrylic paintings take a psychological approach, depicting landscapes rich with a history of folklore with a focus on making visible the fleeting qualities that add to our understanding of Place. The bodies of work of both artists delve into motifs found in the literary genre of Magical Realism. Magical Realism is defined as “what happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something too strange to believe”. This strangeness, in turn, invites the viewer to expand their own perception of reality beyond rational thinking and open to wonder, beauty, and awe. Magical Realist writers like Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel García Márquez, as early as 1925, saw how wonder and awe could give depth and insight into our everyday lives. Recent scientific studies such as those highlighted in the NY Times, US Today, and Psychology Today, show that experiencing awe improves physical and mental health. “The experience of awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that exceeds our current understanding of the world. The research reveals that experiencing awe can reduce stress, quiet the inner critic, and inspire us to act more altruistically toward the people around us.” The paintings in Wilds Within celebrate how the experience of the natural world can evoke awe, connect us with the divine presence, and discover the wonder to be found in everyday life.

Exhibition at Caplan Art Designs in Portland in June

June 1st – June 30th, 2023

First Thursday Opening Reception: 6-8 pm, June 1st, 2023

Caplan Art Designs, Portland, OR

We live in a time of an unprecedented mental health crisis among people of all ages. Rates of depression tripled amount US adults during the first year of the pandemic. In 2021, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a public health advisory regarding the current epidemic of the diseases of despair, such as addiction, depression and suicide, and mental fragility in society particularly among young adults.

Clinical psychologist Dr. Lisa Miller began investigating the role of spirituality in psychology through the lens of science in the 90’s. Her studies have revealed that personal spirituality may cultivate well being. Miller describes what she calls the awakened brain inherent in us, how we each have a natural capacity to perceive a greater reality and consciously connect with the life force the surrounds and imbues us. Using MRI scans in her recent studies, Miller discovered that individuals at high risk for depressive illness who prioritize their spiritual lives have a thicker cortex in certain parts one their brains, making them more resilient to depression. Being spiritually aware, her studies have found, robustly protects one against the diseases of despair.

This new body of work, titled Verdancy Within, reveals the inner worlds as vibrant healthy landscapes, exploring how the inner realms are like gardens that may be cultivated when one is spiritually engaged.

Caplan Art Designs is located at 1323 NW 16th Avenue #1001
NOTE: ENTRANCE to the gallery is on NW Pettygrove between 16th & 17th Avenues

The Great Uplift: Tamara English

November 2nd – December 26th, 2021

First Thursday Opening Reception: 6-8 pm, November 4th, 2021

Caplan Art Designs, Portland, OR

The oil paintings that comprise this body of work, titled The Great Uplift, explore moving through our inner landscapes with the buoyancy found in connecting with the presence of the sacred. These artworks offer an invitation to choose upliftment, compassion and generosity in these unusual times we are living in. Each work becomes a portal to cultivate individual and collective well being.

Caplan Art Designs is located at 1323 NW 16th Avenue #1001

NOTE: ENTRANCE to the gallery is on NW Pettygrove between 16th & 17th Avenues

Hyperallergic Series A View From The Easel

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, Hyperallergic has been asking artists to share their experiences of their studios during times of quarantine, in their ongoing series “A View From The Easel,” which features artists’ studios all over the world.

Click here to see the post featuring my studio

About Hyperallergic:

Hyperallergic is a leading voice in contemporary perspectives on art, culture, and more. The online publication was founded by the husband-and-husband team, Veken Gueyikian and Hrag Vartanian, in 2009 as a forum for playful, serious, and radical perspectives on art in society. With over one million visitors monthly, Hyperallergic combines round-the-clock art world news coverage with insightful commentary. Hyperallergic is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.

Treat Gallery – All of The Lights

Online Group Exhibition February 10 – March 31

Light, literally or metaphorically can stir conversation on direction, intensity, color, contrast, and hardness. There are seven basic properties of light: reflection, refraction, diffraction, interference, polarization, dispersion and scattering. Properties of visible light are intensity, propagation direction, and frequency. Light can be conceptual: have you seen a light at the end of a dark tunnel?

treat gallery is committed to helping businesses and individuals throughout the boroughs of New York City. For this exhibition, we will donate 25% of all sales to New York City based nonprofit Candlelighters NYC.

UNLIMITED 2020 Alumni Salon Show

October 2020

With works by more than 80 alumni artists from across the decades and mediums, you are invited to UNLIMITED 2020, the 4th annual PNCA alumni salon show, opening online, in the PNCA virtual gallery, Thursday, October 1st – 31st, 2020.

VIEW Exhibition

Unlimited Artist Panel Discussions

Please join us for a series of Fridays in October at noon for Unlimited Artist Discussions where participating artists will be sharing stories of their journeys, inspirations and challenges.

Dates for Unlimited Artist Panels and Discussion: Noon on Fridays through October.

Enter the discussions through Zoom

Friday, October 16, 12:00-1:00pm (PST) on zoom:

Lisa, Brinkman, 1993 BFA Painting; Anne Haley, 2010 General Fine Arts; Travis Wills, 2013; Emma flick, 2019 MFA Print Media; Tamara English, 2004 Painting

Image:

You Were Born With Goodness And Trust, 2020

Oil on canvas

40 x 60 inches/ 101.6 x 152.4 cm

SEPTEMBER 3RD, 2019

Some of my works are now on view at the Museum of the Oregon Territory September 3rd, 2019 – January 3rd, 2020. Thanks to Art in Oregon for making this exhibition possible.

Image:
Adored, 2014
Oil on canvas
34 x 192 inches/ 86.3 x 487.6 centimeters

MARCH 27, 2019

The Regional Arts & Culture Council acquired one of my paintings as part of a recent purchase for display in the new Gladys McCoy Building, the Multnomah County Health Department Headquarters at 619 NW Sixth Avenue. The purchase included 99 new small to medium scale artworks from 57 artists. These artworks are new additions to the Portable Works Collection, which consists of over 1,200 works on paper, paintings, prints and textiles. Artworks for the building have been selected by a community panel to reflect qualities of Lightness, Openness & Optimism.

Image:
Truly I Am Near II, 2015
Oil on canvas
28 x 28 inches/ 71.1 x 71.1 centimeters