About the Artist
“Mark Rothko’s atmospheric abstractions of the 1950’s and 60’s are a modern precedent for Van Tuinen’s ephemeral approach, emphasizing the sensory experience of color and light, dematerializing form. Rothko too, is a painter of American landscape, that place of expanse and light that defines a kind of New World romanticism…” (Doug Meyer, critic, Los Angles 2003)
Artist Statement
My work is not an exact representation of the landscape. My paintings are meant to capture the emotions and thoughts that the landscape invokes in me and in the viewer as they respond to the energy and spirit in my work. My intent is to create a reverence for the landscape and a consciousness that the Earth feeds us physically, emotionally and spiritually.
My art and travel has always been part of my life. I studied at an arts school in London England and studied woodblock printing in Japan from a master artist. I was invited to the Florence Biennale in 2005 and showed with artists from all over the world. In Florence I met art critics form Mexico, India and NYC who gave me insights into the international art world. Most recently, I spent seven weeks as an artist in residence in Banff, Canada. I created work for a solo show, titled Transcendent Spirit. The large encaustics that I painted while living and working in Banff captured some of the energy and spirit of the beautiful roughed landscape where the light and energy is quite different from the Pacific NW.
I have been working professional in art for over 30 years in printmaking and painting. I have work in public collections in the USA, Taiwan, Canada and Europe as well as private collections nationally and internationally.
My collaborations with painter, Karen Guzak and world-renowned glass artist, Dale Chihuly, gave me insight into the private and public art field. I also set up and designed Dale’s Seattle print studio.
I have been painting with encaustic paints the last 8 years. My process of painting begins by heating the encaustic medium (8 parts beeswax to 1 part damar resin) to which I add pigment color along with metallic and mica powders. I use brushes to paint the heated liquid medium onto wood panels and use irons directly on the wax to melt and attach each translucent layer. Gold, silver and copper leaf and oil sticks are added on top of the 20 to 50 layers of translucent color to reflect even more light and create an ever changing landscape with a deeply textured surface. The resin hardens the surface. -Debra Van Tuinen |
Curriculum Vitae
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2011 Butters Gallery, Portland OR
2010 Van Tuinen Art, Olympia WA
2009 Butters Gallery, Portland OR
2009 Artworks, Vancouver BC
2009 Washington Center, Olympia WA
2008 Summit Fine Art, Banff AB
2008 Artworks, Vancouver BC
2007 Butters Gallery, Portland OR
2007 Summit Fine Art, Banff AB
2007 Artworks, Vancouver BC
2005 Butters Gallery, Portland OR
2004 Butters Gallery, Portland OR
2004 Kimzey Miller Gallery, Seattle WA
2004 Gallery Gora, Montreal, QC
2003 Artworks Gallery, Vancouver BC
2003 Elizabeth Edwards Gallery, Palm Springs CA
2002 Butters Gallery, Portland OR
2002 Kimzey Miller Gallery, Seattle WA
2001 Kimzey Miller Gallery, Seattle WA
2001 Elizabeth Edwards Gallery, Palm Springs CA
2000 Butters Gallery, Portland OR
1998 Santa Fe Contemporary Art, Santa Fe NM
1997 Butters Gallery, Portland OR
1996 Kimzey Miller Gallery, Seattle WA
1995 Butters Gallery, Portland OR
1994 Butters Gallery, Portland OR
1992 Butters Gallery, Portland OR
1990 Philip Brock Gallery, Seattle WA
1989 Paccar Corp., Bellevue WA
1988 Marianne Partlow Gallery, Olympia WA
1986 Pacific NW Bell, Seattle WA
1984 Lynn McAllister Gallery, Seattle WA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2011 Projects Gallery, Philadelphia PA
2010 Broadway Gallery, NYC
2010 Miami Basel Show, Nina Torres Gallery, Miami FL
2010 LA Art Seen, Los Angeles CA
2009 Miami Red Dot Show, Butters Gallery, Portland OR
2009 Artprize, Grand Rapids MI (top 75)
2008 Butters Gallery, Portland OR
2007 Art Works Gallery, Vancouver BC
2006 AAF, NYC
2005 AAF, NYC
2005 Florence Biennale, Florence, Italy
2004 Palm Springs International, Palm Springs CA
2004 Gallery Ochi, Sun Valley ID
2003 Elizabeth Doyle Gallery, Maui HI
2000 Art 21 International Show, Las Vegas NV
1999 Santa Fe Contemporary Art, Santa Fe NM
1998 Agart World Print Exhibition, Bled, Slovenia
1998 Facet Fine Arts Center, Taos NM
1997 SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe NM
1996 Seattle Art Fair, Seattle WA
1995 Seattle Art Fair, Seattle WA
1994 Portland Art Museum, Portland OR
1993 Butters Gallery, Portland, OR
1992 van Straten Gallery, Chicago IL
1988 van Straten Gallery, Chicago IL
1987 Centrum Print Show, Seattle WA
1987 Whatcom Museum of Art, Bellingham WA
1986 Shoshanna Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles CA
1986 van Straten Gallery, Chicago IL
1986 WA State Pavilion Expo, Vancouver BC
1983 Northwest Print Council, Portland, OR
1976 Henry Museum MFA Show, Seattle WA
1974 Joslyn Art Center, Omaha NE
1973 Hope College BFA Show, Holland MI
Selected Collections
Art In Embassy, Doha, Qatar
The Village, Vancouver BC
L’Hermitage Hotel, Vancouver BC
USA State Department, 10 international offices
Imperial Bank of Canada, Chicago offices
Windsor Park Hotel, Taiwan
Nordic Research Group, Vancouver BC
Education
MFA University of Washington, Seattle WA
BFA Hope College, Holland MI
Byam Shaw School of Art, London, England
Reviews and Publications
2010 NY Arts Magazine
2005 Bienalle Internationale Dell’Arte Contemporanea, Quinta Edizona
2005 Home and Garden, Fall issue
2004 Dream House Western Canada Magazine, 2004
1998 The Magazine, Santa Fe, New Mexico |
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