A Personal Resume
April 2007
As a youngster, my very first toys were a small blue ball, a doll, and pencils, in that order. The pencils became a natural extension of my hand. I could draw for hours on end lost in my fantasy world. Also, I became a notorious “doodler” leaving my mark in books, textbooks, phone books, piano books, etc. Drawing paper wasn’t easy to come by then. In grade three I discovered poster painting and so painting and drawing became my main means of exploring the images surfacing in my mind; a means of peeling away the “onion skins” of my psyche. Along the way, I also found that the initial stages of a painting or drawing to be the most exciting. Watching images emerge and come to life on a blank canvas or page seems somewhat like giving birth in that out of nothing comes something new and fresh and never seen before – a little miracle.
My family emigrated to Canada in 1949 (I was born in Latvia) and eventually settled in Thunder Bay, Ontario. In high school I started dreaming of being a fashion designer although it was really fashion illustration that I liked (as I found out later). After graduation, I was accepted into the Minneapolis School of Art. I did well, but by years end realized fashion design was not what I had imagined it to be and so switched into art education at the University of Minnesota. Four years later I graduated with a B.Sc. degree and had started graduate studies as well. I went back to Ontario and taught high school art (and physical education) for three years. By then I was a “bit” discouraged with my job and ready to resume my graduate studies which I did at the University of British Columbia. I received my M.Ed. two years later. Vancouver had now become home and I started working for the Vancouver School Board supply teaching and then teaching evening adult art classes, which I thoroughly enjoyed. However, again after about four years, I wanted to do my own art versus teaching it, and started drawing commissioned portraits, mostly for friends. In time, I found commissioned work quite restricting and stressful and went back to my own images. Interestingly, my teaching “career” didn’t end here. Around that time, I partnered up with a friend of mine who was running her own aerobics company which I eventually took over. This endeavor lasted twenty-two years and quenched my interest in dance, music, theater, and teaching all at the same time.
Meanwhile, I submitted drawings for three shows at the Seymour Art Gallery (2000 – 2003); hung paintings at Morton and Ramsey Architects and Associates; had a solo exhibit of my drawings at the Crime Lab Restaurant in Vancouver; submitted three paintings for a Latvian Art Festival in Seattle (2004); sold “photos-reprints” of new drawings to various acquaintances; and hung six paintings at The Mix Restaurant in Vancouver. Some of my painting series have included “The Undercurrents Series” and my “Tomato Series”.
My travels have led me to art galleries throughout Scandinavia, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Riga, Osaka, Kyoto, New York, London, Edinburgh, Ottawa, San Francisco, St. Petersburg, and Glasgow. I also regularly travel to Maui where I like to draw, photograph, people watch, read, and meditate. It’s all fodder for my imagination.
In the future, I like to see myself painting and drawing as long as possible. It’s essential. I would like to sell a lot more work and have more exposure and connection with other artists. I’d like to experiment with giclée reproductions because I think it’s a good marketing idea. As an artist I work quite slowly, sometimes methodically using lots of overlays (the onion skin) and am not good at being under time constraints and pressures. Quality is far more important to me than quantity. As an aside, I find the work of Shadbolt, Gordon Smith, De Kooning, Manet, Dubuffet, Chagall, Miro, and Georgia O’Keefe very inspiring.
– Tatiana Anderson