Tina Garrett [NRA 2016-2020]

First name: Tina ;
Middle name:  ;
Last name:  Garrett ;

Member: Non-resident artist member ; 
Begin: 2016 ;
End: 2020 ;

Biography:

Tina Garrett is one of the most well recognized women artists in Contemporary Western Art. Her works center on emotion and mood, and they often contain dramatic light or atmospheric effects. Her works tend to carry with them an undefinable reverberation, haunting and laced with mystery. Being highly skilled as a Contemporary Representational artist, Tina has earned recognition as an Art Renewal Center Living Master, (ARCLM) and holds a Master Artist designation from the National Oil and Acrylic Painters’ Society. From 2017 to 2021 Tina was a proud State Ambassador for the Potrait Society of America and she is honored to be a mentor for the PSoA Cecilia Beaux Forum Mentoring Program

Born in 1974 in San Diego, California, USA, her hands still bear the scars from when she was knocked out of her mother’s arms and into a campfire at age two. Suffering third degree burns on her hands and lower arms, nothing could keep Tina from drawing as a child to transcend the ugliness of life’s trials. She hid her scars for most of her childhood, but it is with courage that Tina uses those same hands and all of her life’s experience to paint a more idealized existence.

Tina holds an Associate of Applied Science in Visual Communication from the Colorado Institute of Art Denver. She has studied intently in the Selective Start Method described in Alla Prima By Living Master Artist and Author Richard Schmid , and was inducted as a Putney Painter in 2020. Tina studied in workshops and/or in private lessons with Romel de la Torre, Casey Baugh, Aaron Westerberg, Jeremy Lipking, Dennis Perrin, Michelle Dunaway, Stanka Kordic, Kathy Anderson and Daniel Keys.

For Tina, her work is an integral part of her daily existence. “As I progress in my skills and my work becomes more widely recognized, I’ve done my best to present my work to everyone I can reach, each time risking at least an evaluation of myself and whatever I’ve presented to the world as important enough to paint. Those who don’t create might not understand just how much bravery it takes to do this over and over again. I’ll speak for myself: I love the paintings I create so deeply. I’m embarrassed to say I’ve literally smooched some of them before packing and shipping them off to their new homes. I know, it’s excessive. They are just objects… but each one comes from my soul. Yes, my soul—the part of me that is connected to the divine, God, the universe, whatever you like to call it—that’s where my paintings come from. For me, my soul is an endless well of inspiration, and no matter how my work is received, there will always be another painting that must be created. So when my work is judged, evaluated, priced, sold, awarded or rejected, my soul doesn’t care what anyone thinks, it simply must create.” [ . . . ]

Tina has created a growing family of private collectors and commissioned clients in the U.S., U.K., Netherlands and Mexico. To Tina, “There is no greater gift I can receive than another falling in love with my work so deeply that they must own it, bring my work into their home and make it a part of their daily lives. I truly do put so much of myself into each and every work, so loving it, giving it a home, that is the highest compliment.” [ . . . ]

Teaching is also of primary importance to Tina. She says, “I have found my bliss in teaching. It is an absolute delight when a student reaches a milestone of understanding. To have any student surpass me in my skill and success and look back and say, ‘Thank you, Tina, for all you taught me,’ that would be sublime. Because if I learned one thing from the great master of our era, Richard Schmid, it is that we do not own this information. All artists have a responsibility to pay forward what they know and assure that the next generation of artists has the tools to make great art.” […]

There is a certain transcendent quality that comes to a work of art when the soul of the artist runs deep. For anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting Tina, she is a warm, kind and optimistic person. She feels and thinks deeply about herself and the world. It is this quality that she also brings to her art. Her works are filled with a deep pathos that resonates with her viewers; one that is uplifting, but also filled with a sweet sadness, a nostalgic warmth that awakens feelings of past times filled with wonder, newness and the change that comes with each new season of life’s transitions.

https://www.artisttinagarrett.com/

Artworks: