Angela Tahara
A free spirit, born in 1962, Canada.
Lives & works in Vancouver, BC.
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For me, it is not worth doing unless it is difficult, so when I go into my studio, I challenge myself and also ask myself 'why'? Tension and release and it drives me batty and I love it.
As a child, art would take me to far-off places in my mind and I am always chasing my own journey. When I paint, I combine technique, composition, colour, and story, in an effort to spark emotion, flow, and imagination in myself and thus in the viewer.
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Encaustic comes from antiquity, but the revival is rather new in this century. As I work, new possibilities present itself, and it is quite the thrill. I combine Oil with Encaustic because I like the detail of the Oil and the abstract/impressionist feel of the Encaustic, and together, it can be magic.
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Blessings to you on your journey.
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Angela
Tahara Bio
Tahara began her career as a sculptor. From 1987 – 2011 she worked primarily in woodcarving, clay, stone, and bronze. Successful with numerous solo/group shows, a love for teaching and mentoring and ever prolific in experimentation. Although successful and selling out of Chateau Whistler and captured in the newspapers, she felt wanting.
In 2012, Tahara adjusted her studio to Oil Painting to embrace colour and found that her knowledge of 3-D sculptural concepts demanded more on a 2-D platform and discovered Encaustic, hot wax. Combining Encaustic and Oil onto canvas or wood gave her the bandwidth to pull the viewer deeper into the scene of her unique vision.
Tahara is a member of Federation of Canadian Artists, and her works can be seen occasionally at the Granville Island Gallery. Most recently a collection of her work was featured as a solo show September 2023 until January 15, 2024 at the City of Port Coquitlam.
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Tahara is passionately devoted to perfecting new techniques and continually evolving in vision, story, and depth of artistic excellence. She is a bright character and loves to share with others.
Interview September 2023
Artist Interview: Angela Tahara
Leslie Perrie, City of Port Coquitlam
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Q: Tell us a bit about yourself, what is your background and how did you begin your professional practice?
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A: In my first 15 years I was first intrigued by sculpture and went down the 3-D path. Having a curious nature, I tried a new medium and really enjoyed the texture of oil paint and set about exploring colour. Soon after I encountered Encaustic, and that excited me for its versatile ability to be as smooth as glass, or textured. Wax painting also included fire and I could make my own colours which became more intriguing. This summer I moved to Harrison Mills and am passionately producing my art full-time.
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Q: What subject matter do you work with and why?
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A: I paint my ethos and values of peace, joy, and infinity, and I use visual objects and composition to convey this. Before I pull out materials, I ask, what do I yearn to express and how do I get there. Objects are beautiful and challenging to arrange and capture, and of course, if I haven’t done it before, all the better.
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Q: How does the idea of community relate to your practice?
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A: The community I live in and those I visit are where I receive some of my best inspiration and have aha moments. I stand back in respect, acknowledgment, and observance for people and the environment, and feel very grateful for what was given.
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Q: What is your dream project?
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A: I have been kayaking a lot of late, and the beauty before me is overwhelming. Joy, immense colour, light, reflection, depth, and more depth. We live in this incredible place of beauty. I am excited about creating some really challenging pieces of what I can see/feel but am unable to photograph. Magnificent, interesting depths, layer by layer by layer.
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Q: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given as an artist?
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A: Challenge yourself. Every piece you do is a practice piece to the next better piece. If you are frustrated, that is because you are learning, so embrace that joyfully. Suffering is optional.
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Q: Name three artists who’ve inspired you.
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A: 1. Albert Einstein (Physicist and violinist) As a child, I was chastised for my imagination and as an adult I was criticized. He said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” Einstein had given me permission to be as I am, dream without apology, and move forward.
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2. Van Gogh. His work is just gob-smacking beautiful. The strokes, the colours and I get lost in it.
3. All Renaissance. My picture book as a child was this big bible full of Renaissance paintings and sculptures and I studied that like crazy. Those artists had base tools and did everything from scratch and with no technology. I gained so much inspiration from their ingenuity.
