TONYA FERRARI ART
STORY OF AN ARTIST
ARTIST STATEMENT
As a child, I was drawn to the beauty of the natural world. There was a sensation of being completely at peace outdoors. When I am working in my studio, I experience a similar sense of peace as daily stressors and expectations fall away. I get to indulge in raw joy through creating works with multiple layers of color and sensory-rich texture. It is a very personal process and I always leave the studio feeling whole.
As an artist, I admire the curiosity, imagination and self-expression children possess. I marvel as I watch my own kids play. I listen to their squeals of delight, grand sound effects and deep belly laughter. They effortlessly transform pebbles into hummingbird eggs, and cardboard boxes into wildlife rescue centers. It is so authentic and inspiring.
My preferred tool for painting is my fingers. Relinquishing the brush and feeling the wet paint on my hands sparks the essence of childhood within me. Many of my works are spontaneous experiments when I begin. As I’ve refined my process and stretched the boundaries of my materials, my painting style has diversified. I often change and evolve the piece multiple times, adding layers of complexity composed of acrylic paint, organic and acrylic texture mediums, oil pastels, resins, gilding foils, gemstones and a variety of interesting materials found in nature. I add the finer precision details with my brushes.
My passion for nature and fascination with geology can be observed in my work. It may be an obvious representation, like a giant thriving tree. It can also be a more obscured interpretation like the pattern of a raw gemstone or the texture of a coral reef but a deep connection to nature is always at the center of my work.
PAINTINGS
METALS AND EARTH ELEMENTS
This collection showcases the beauty of geology and mixed metals; some feature hand sculpted inlays.
THE TREE COLLECTION
"Learn character from trees, values from roots and change from leaves" -Tasneem Hameed
SPECIAL CUSTOM PROJECTS
While all of my paintings are custom pieces, this collection focuses on a few projects that challenged my abilities and helped me to expand myself as an artist.
RECENT PROJECTS
An artistic theme can often be seen and felt throughout the years, collections, and even individual pieces. There are several years of developement seen in my work. The evolution has been an exciting process.
"Art washes away from the soul the dust of every day life"
PICASSO
PRESERVING A MOMENT IN TIME
THE ART OF LIFECASTING
What is life casting?
To create a three-dimentional representation of a subject from a mold of their living body.
Lifecasting captures details as small as fingerprints, wrinkles and the lines that define life and one's unique history.
Celebrate a new marriage or a golden anniversary. Capture the precise details of an infant’s tiny foot or the unique fingerprints of generations hand in hand. When I am refining the precious details of these heirlooms, I am reminded that my labor of love is a priceless piece of someone else’s history casted into a highly detailed statue that will tell a story for many decades to come.
CONTACT ME
ARTIST BIO
Pacific Northwest native Tonya Ferrari, creates contemporary works using a variety of heavy bodied textures and vivid colors. Her ideas are often influenced by the natural beauty of the land, sea and sky. Her process includes painting with her hands, tools and brushes. She melds collage, acrylic pouring, textiles, metals, organic materials and foils to create intriguing works with an edgy, sensory-rich style. Her expanding self-taught techniques have resulted in a diverse body of work but nature in some form is the common theme. Her lifelong fascination with geology has evolved from displaying semi-precious gemstones in her work, to creating more abstract paintings that resemble the rock and mineral formations she has long admired.
CV
BACKGROUND DETAILS
TONYA FERRARI (B.1976 UNITED STATES)
TONYA FERRARI ART AND LIFE CASTING STUDIO LOCATED IN
LAKE STEVENS, WASHINGTON
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EDUCATION & EXHIBITIONS
EDUCATION: PRIMARILY SELF-DIRECTED PAINTER EST.1994
EDINBURGH CASTING STUDIO, SCOTLAND 2016
Exhibitions:
Mill Creek Art Walk- Windermere Real Estate - June 2019 Solo Exhibition
Edmonds Arts Festival Juried Gallery
Anderson Culteral Center - June 2019, Group Exhibition
Edmonds Art and Wine Walk Forthcoming - July 2021, Solo Exhibition
Edmonds Art Walk Coldwell Banker - April 2019, Solo Exhibition
Edmonds Art and Wine Walk Coldwell Banker - September 2016, Solo Exhibition
Arts Council of Snohomish County, 2010, Group Exhibition
Fresh Paint 2010, Group Exhibition/Festival
COLLECTIONS & DONATIONS
COLLECTIONS:
WORKS HELD IN SEVERAL PRIVATE COLLECTIONS WITHIN THE UNITED STATES
Donations:
Battlefield Addiction - connecting the addict, the family and the community 2017 and 2019
Brothers in Healing - Suicide prevention and PTSD support for police officers
Festival of Trees - Providence Children’s Center
Private event - Childhood Leukemia
Chairs for Charity - Homeless Endowment Fund