CATCHING FEELS

SOLO EXHIBITION AT AKELA COLLECTIVE

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Tanya Val is an Alaska based abstract painter who is heavily influenced by nature’s energy and connection to ourselves. She explores themes of adventure, freedom, individuality and sustainability with her use of expressive brush strokes and layered textures. Her process is purely intuitive with little to no planning: this allows her to experiment and develop each piece based on feeling and emotion of the moment. Much of Tanya’s work is inspired by the Alaskan landscape, where she also prefers to take her painting studio. Painting outdoors allows her to be fully present in the moment and connect to nature on a deeper level. She translates sensory elements such as sound, smell, view, touch into abstract representations on the canvas.

After painting under a retreating glacier a few years back, the widespread impacts of climate change became overwhelming and began to inform her process and change her psyche. She made it her mission to bring awareness to climate change starting with changes we can make in our daily lives.

Her solo exhibition “Catching Feels” is inspired by warm summer feelings. She focuses on themes of adventure, individuality and being fully present during every moment.

The earth toned, warm colors and textures aim to communicate a sense of belonging through visual stories of the good times. Tanya uses her own photography to collect imagery of textures, lines and shapes as inspiration for color and composition. While photography plays a role in her process, experimentation with mixed media and technique is where her creativity thrives. She begins each piece with light washes of acrylic paint, the “freedom stage”. Expressive loose strokes, pouring of paint and sketches with chalk all aim to capture spontaneity; still the painting becomes more organized as those expressive techniques become more deliberate. Certain fragments are highlighted while others are painted over, keeping the feeling of free and expressive movements foundational to style.