ARTIST STATEMENT

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TANYA TEWELL

My painting is a very personal translation of dream imagery and recollections.  Memories from my childhood are an especially rich source in composing a painting.  I concentrate on using the figure as my primary means of communicating a mood, emotion, or a particularly powerful experience. The human figure has become an almost archetypal symbol in my work.  I have been influenced by the writings of Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, and various non-fiction writers in the South American magic realist style.  

Having lived in Arizona or almost fifteen years, I was profoundly influenced by the dramatic landscape and light.  I also became very interested in certain elements of Hispanic culture, Catholicism, and Navajo and Yaqui spiritual belief and ritual.  A Navajo medicine woman who greatly changed my perspectives about life and my approach to my work mentored me for ten years.  From her, I learned that art and the spirit are one.  Sympathetic magic and indigenous shamanic practices are of great interest to me.  I hope that the viewer of my work will come away with a sense of my search for the underlying mystery and magic that enlightens everyday experiences.

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