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Tara Zalewsky-Nease
Monroeville, Pennsylvania
Tara Zalewsky-Nease draws on the soul of the desert to create her impressionist landscape paintings. While earning her Masters in Fine Art Painting at the University of New Mexico, she experienced the magical energy of the expansive panoramas and the timeless geography of the southwest. She hiked, journaled and captured reference photography during her time there, as well as during her trips to the Pacific Northwest, France and Japan. Two common motifs in her works are hummingbirds, which are totems of good luck, and foxes, which allude to her young son. Tara has had solo exhibitions in Sante Fe, Albuquerque and Taos. She recently built a custom backyard art studio at her home in Pittsburgh, where she paints full time. When she is not creating art, she teaches art classes at several universities and also enjoys playing the piano and spending time with her pets and family.
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Artist Statement
I learned to paint in New Mexico. I traveled there for graduate school, but it wasn’t so much the classroom that taught me to hone my artistic skills, but rather the landscape. The Cadmium red of the rocky ground, the intense Cobalt of the sky, and the scent of the dusty sage became my palette. My en plein air painting was more than just a record of what I saw in front of me on the long tenting trips spent backpacking and painting in the desert landscape. Still, a journal, a meditation on the heat, the overwhelming expanse, and the almost painful beauty of being in an environment that existed long before me and would remain long after I am gone. I learned that a single brushstroke, applied quickly and precisely, can capture a fleeting moment of light, suggest wind or heat, and blend intense colors on the canvas. This technique remains at the heart of my oil painting. Although I moved back to the East Coast from New Mexico, I brought the soul of the desert landscape with me. Whether working outdoors or referencing photos in my studio, I rely on the magic of gesture and the hues of thick paint to convey a sense of atmosphere and place in my work. Like the Old Master Whistler, who signed his paintings with a butterfly, I enjoy slipping foxes and hummingbirds into my paintings, as these animals have become my personal iconography. I painted hummingbirds in New Mexico after reading that they were harbingers of good luck in Southwestern lore. Hummingbirds continue to find their way into my paintings, along with foxes. After my son was born, I felt a little fox symbolized his sweet and troublemaking nature. Hence, there are frequent foxes hiding in the thicket of my brushstrokes or dreaming alongside painted waterfalls. Some of my paintings incorporate collage techniques, balancing bold brushwork with the swirl of marbled paper or golden patterns.
Artist Background
The University of New Mexico
Master of Fine Arts, 2006
Kent State University
Bachelor of Fine Arts, 2003
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