tanya alison - abstract artist
stories
imperfect
truthful
stories imperfect truthful
Ever since I can remember, I have been drawn to garbage – to broken things - to other people’s rejected items. and quite frankly, to rejected people themselves.
Beach trash, temporary collage 2022
Without intention, shapes reappear 2023
My paintings, along with my process, reflect this deep desire to explore the layers of story that live beneath the surface of everyday objects and in the places we live. It’s the story hidden below the curated exterior of everyday people and life, that fascinates and moves me. This is very much what my art is about.
I use paint as my voice, and follow an intuitive process as I explore the deeper whys- Why am I so drawn to decay and imperfection? Why is perfection so coveted and imperfection something to fix? What is hiding in the parts of life that may be too hard to look at or acknowledge?
my wee little story
I have lived on the coast of California all my life, first in Santa Cruz and now in Humboldt County. Having spent my childhood summers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, I really had the best of both worlds. I derived my love of camping and playing in the dirt at the base of the Tetons and in the icy waters of the Snake River. Summer was a great contrast to my love of the sand between my toes and the comfort of the great Pacific ocean all around me.
I am technically an only child, minus wonderful summers spent in Wyoming with my sister. Most of my life was spent in the quiet. Because I was in my head a lot, I grew very fond of (read ‘preoccupied with’) imagining the stories and lives of other people.
When I see a beautiful landscape, for me it’s the life beneath the surface that moves me. I see it through a microscope rather than as a whole. Taking it all in at once overwhelms me, so I am compelled to see the smallness - the unimportant to so many of us.
That’s why abstraction is the way I choose to express what I feel. It’s deeper than the picture of that old door. It’s the 19 layers of paint, the time worn grooves around the handle, the dirt on the threshold from the workers over time. It’s the dropped sucker and spilled tears. That’s what I’m trying to get to, the story I need to tell. And there are many stories waiting to be told.
I bet if you’ve read this far, you’re likely one of the listeners, like me.
“Jeanne B” paying homage to the Grand Tetons, 2022
“There’s a feeling of knowing. like an unspoken conversation between you and the painting. at some point you just know this was the story trying to get out.”
MEDIUMS & PROCESS
I am a mixed media artist. I love using acrylics for the fast-paced deep-dives I must do to keep pace with freedom and intuition. I also use oil sticks, inks, watercolor, pencils, crayons, charcoal, collage, to name a few. My work can be on canvas, but I prefer the luscious surfaces of wood and paper.
Among my beat up paint brushes and pallet knives - lives kitchen utensils, wood-working tools, recycled items, branches, copper-pipe, pretty much anything goes.
I don’t begin my paintings with a concept or a plan. Instead, I follow my intuition as I flow from play and experimentation, to contemplation and refinement. I find that being bold and taking risks, is very much an integral part of my process. There is never ‘the’ right answer or a clear path forward, as I am tasked to find my way through each piece, anew every time.
Eventually when the painting tells me what it craves to be, a way forward opens, and it all becomes clear. It’s as if the end was always the ‘plan’ and I was just the last to know.
Like an unspoken conversation between you and the painting, at some point you just know this was the story trying to get out.
EDUCATION
-BA, Sociology, Emphasis in Race, Class, Gender and Sexual Orientation, HSU (now Cal Poly Humboldt)
-Abstraction with Jenny Nelson
-Creative Visionary Program with Nicholas Wilton
-FYJ / FYV with Louise Fletcher
-Karen Stamper Concertina Workshops
-Sally Hirst
-Judy Woods
-Sally-Anne Ashley
-Member of Art2Life Academy, Connected Artist Club, and Your Art Tribe
FUN FACTS
-I was named after a character in a romance novel
-I have 4 amazing kids, all are 7 years apart
-When I was little, I may have brought back all the fake flowers I could carry on my bike… from a graveyard
-I have built a chicken coop, a 10’x12′ glasshouse, AND restored a 1968 Airstream 98% by myself
-I tried to pet a gopher when I was 5. It bit me
-I am desperately OBSESSED with my Airstream and because of that, Flamingos. Yes the plastic ones in lawns - the real ones are pretty cool too
let’s stay connected!
