Tamara Ward Burnside, Artist
commissioned watercolor and acrylic paintings
ARTIST STATEMENT
My art depicts a quieter side to life. It shows the quiet stillness of nature, homes, churches, and inviting scenes which calm the senses. My art seeks to give a personal side to an impersonal world. To strip the world of its confrontational nature.
During the last thirty years. I have worked primarily in watercolor. It is a medium which I enjoy and fits my needs. I love it's transparent nature and how it causes me to think of both positive and negative space.
Lately, I have been experimenting with acrylic paints, creating abstracts and realistic works of art.
I choose subject matter for my paintings from the world around me, near and far. These works encompass the spirit and nature of man meeting what Theodore Wolff says is art's most profound goal:
“Art’s most profound goal is to put us and to keep us on track,
to remind us of life’s wholeness, harmony,
and design –and to detach us from feelings of negation
and insignificance.” Theodore T. Wolff - The Many Masks of Modern Art
BIOGRAPHY
Tamara is a native of Salt Lake City, Utah. She resides in Riverton, Utah. Her life's work has been in education and the arts. She has earned degrees in Fine Art and Education from Westminster College and a Masters of Art in Art Education from Brigham Young University.
As an art educator, she taught in Granite School District (GSD) at Taylorsville High School, Olympus Jr. High and as an elementary classroom teacher. Her last 13 years in GSD were spent as the K-12 Fine Arts Coordinator. After retiring from GSD, Tamara worked as an Art Education Specialist for the Utah State Board of Education, working with the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program and as the Visual Art, Media Arts, and Dance Specialist.
She also worked with the Utah Department of Heritage and Arts as the Hamilton Education Coordinator. The Hamilton Education Program provided thousands of Utah high school students the opportunity to engage in an innovative curriculum about the Founding Era, create their own music, perform, and attend the musical Hamilton in 2018.
Her love of art has brought community involvement in an advocacy role. She served as the Chair of the Salt Lake County Art Selections Committee, Salt Lake County’s Zoo, Arts, Parks Tier II Board, the Center for the Arts Advisory Board, A.R.T.S. Inc., and the Statewide Art Partnership Board. The Utah Art Education Association (UAEA) named Tamara “Art Supporter of the Year" for 2015-2016. In 2019, Tamara received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" also from UAEA.
Tamara began exhibiting her art in the 1990’s. She has exhibited in the Springville Museum of Art, BYU's Harris Fine Arts Center, Bountiful Davis Art Center, Utah Museum of Art and History, Riverton Museum of Art, as well as Riverton’s Domed Meeting House, Pioneer Theatre Company Loge Gallery, Kimball Art Center, Atrium, Tivoli, Myra Powell, Utah County Court House, Red Butte Gardens, and SoHo Gallery. Her works have traveled throughout Utah with the Utah Arts Council Traveling Show.