Tanya Hayes Lee
Tanya Hayes Lee is a visual artist who works primarily in oil in a modern abstract impressionist style. Her paintings convey the sublime in nature and are visual metaphors for our relationships to the world and to each other.
“Color is the element that is unique to the visual realm, and painting is the medium I have chosen to integrate color into my world. Color as structure, form, meaning and the fundamental and exquisite ordering of the world in its own terms. The vibrancy and depth of oils is unparalleled in the history of Western art and fortunately it is a medium now easily accessible to anyone with the compulsion to depict the world as it exists in our four dimensions – and an ample supply of turpentine,” she says.
Lee’s greatest inspirations include the nineteenth-century painters George Innes, J.M.W. Turner, and John Constable, twentieth-century icons Helen Frankenthaler, Louise Nevelson and Alice Neel, and contemporary artists Douglas Fryer and Charlie Hunter, as well as many, many colleagues in and around Cambridge.
Tanya Hayes Lee studied studio art at the Mass College of Art, Scottsdale Artist School, and Northern Arizona University. Lee lives and works in Cambridge and exhibits at the Rockport Art Association and Museum, Cambridge Art Association, and Cambridge, Fort Point Arts Community, and Arlington open studios, as well as sundry traditional and nontraditional venues.
Represented by 13 Forest Gallery, 167A Mass. Ave., Arlington, MA 02474 Alpers Fine Art, 8 Dock Square, Rockport, MA 01966
Q&A
Are you self-taught or formally educated in visual art? Both. I’ve taken several courses and workshops over the years, but a lot of my education is simply standing at the easel and figuring it out.
What role do you think the artist plays in society? Artists express what is, reflect on what has passed, and imagine would could be.
What medium do you currently work in and how did you choose this medium? I work in oils because of the richness of the color and the way the paint responds physically.
How do you choose your subject matter? Is there a reoccurring theme that carries throughout your work? Most of my work focuses on natural settings. My paintings are not realist but are interpretations of what I see and feel.
What is one of your artistic goals? To be a better painter is my main goal. To sell more paintings would be great too.
What’s your favorite place to see art, and why? Boston’s MFA, which I have been visiting since I was 10.
What living artists are you inspired by? I look at a lot of contemporary work and enjoy seeing how other artists interpret the world.
Do you have any shows coming up? I am currently represented by 13 Forest in Arlington, MA, and Alpers Fine Art in Rockport, MA. I’m also looking for more a couple more galleries a little further afield.
See more from Tanya
Instagram: @tanyahayesleeart
Website: https://tanyahayeslee.com/