Creating is co-creating.
|
|
|
Artist statement
As a preschooler, Tamryn Spruill, an Army brat, appeared in a local English-language newspaper in Vicenza, Italy. In the photo accompanying the article, she is seated at an art table—her face reflecting total concentration as she cuts pieces of construction paper with kid-sized scissors. Above the photo, the headline reads: “Education—Where It All Begins (Pages 6-7).” The “Where It All Begins” part, in context with the photo, Tamryn considers to be validation of a lifelong inclination to make things from paper.
It is an impulse to which she finally surrendered well into adulthood, but it took a long time for her to get there.
An oddball middle child in a traditional family, Spruill's whimsies were not always understood, supported, or encouraged. She did not for a long time comprehend her own artistic inclinations, but Spruill began to glimpse their power and importance amid various personal crises which spotlighted for her the life-giving force of her practice. Now engrossed fully in an art practice, Spruill is glimpsing through her work in mixed media and collage the development of a budding artistic language all her own. Since late-2022, Spruill has shifted her approach -- focusing more on painting (acrylic on canvas or other surfaces) than collaging. Without the hypnotic tactile experience of working with paper, printed or written text, canvas, wood, twine, cloth, and other materials she has used in collage, Spruill explored ways to generate a similar energy in her painting practice and found texture to be its lifeblood.
"I'm a destructionist," Spruill said. "I seem to be incapable of creating from whole, unsullied materials, so the first step, for me, is to destroy."
Thematically, the content of dreams -- both asleep and awake -- feature heavily in Spruill's collages. She also conjures characters from literature and depicts them with their interiorities exposed -- turned inside-out in ways that are sometimes delicate and at other times pronounced. Her paintings, meanwhile, tend to feature common objects like a dress, lawn ornament, table, or vase, in unsettling or uncertain environments. She will focus on paintings in 2023.
Spruill holds a BA in Spanish/Journalism (University of South Carolina) and an MFA in Creative Writing (Goddard College). She is an award-winning journalist with bylines appearing in The New York Times, Harper's BAZAAR, SLAM, Teen Vogue, The Red Bulletin, Newsweek, and other publications. She is in the midst of writing her first book: COURT QUEENS: The WNBA's Story of Power, Passion and Perseverance On and Off the Court (ABRAMS Books).
It is an impulse to which she finally surrendered well into adulthood, but it took a long time for her to get there.
An oddball middle child in a traditional family, Spruill's whimsies were not always understood, supported, or encouraged. She did not for a long time comprehend her own artistic inclinations, but Spruill began to glimpse their power and importance amid various personal crises which spotlighted for her the life-giving force of her practice. Now engrossed fully in an art practice, Spruill is glimpsing through her work in mixed media and collage the development of a budding artistic language all her own. Since late-2022, Spruill has shifted her approach -- focusing more on painting (acrylic on canvas or other surfaces) than collaging. Without the hypnotic tactile experience of working with paper, printed or written text, canvas, wood, twine, cloth, and other materials she has used in collage, Spruill explored ways to generate a similar energy in her painting practice and found texture to be its lifeblood.
"I'm a destructionist," Spruill said. "I seem to be incapable of creating from whole, unsullied materials, so the first step, for me, is to destroy."
Thematically, the content of dreams -- both asleep and awake -- feature heavily in Spruill's collages. She also conjures characters from literature and depicts them with their interiorities exposed -- turned inside-out in ways that are sometimes delicate and at other times pronounced. Her paintings, meanwhile, tend to feature common objects like a dress, lawn ornament, table, or vase, in unsettling or uncertain environments. She will focus on paintings in 2023.
Spruill holds a BA in Spanish/Journalism (University of South Carolina) and an MFA in Creative Writing (Goddard College). She is an award-winning journalist with bylines appearing in The New York Times, Harper's BAZAAR, SLAM, Teen Vogue, The Red Bulletin, Newsweek, and other publications. She is in the midst of writing her first book: COURT QUEENS: The WNBA's Story of Power, Passion and Perseverance On and Off the Court (ABRAMS Books).
Woman of the World
"Woman of the World" examines the colors, complexities, beauties and ravages of motherhood. It was inspired by the poetry collection What Mothers Withhold by Elizabeth Kropf (Finishing Line Press 2021) and appears on the book's cover.
OTHER WORK
MASK MAGAZINE
Till I'm Up On My Feet Again
RECOVERING THE SELF
On Healing from Trauma: Dissolving the Robot Self
FINERY
The All-Star Fantasy League
UNTHINKABLE CREATURES CHAPBOOK PRESS
Scratch the Bone
PITKIN REVIEW
A New and Soothing Appendage
The Space between Kisses
ROBOCUP PRESS
The Opposite of Robots: Poems
L.E.S. REVIEW
woeful masturbation
Till I'm Up On My Feet Again
RECOVERING THE SELF
On Healing from Trauma: Dissolving the Robot Self
FINERY
The All-Star Fantasy League
UNTHINKABLE CREATURES CHAPBOOK PRESS
Scratch the Bone
PITKIN REVIEW
A New and Soothing Appendage
The Space between Kisses
ROBOCUP PRESS
The Opposite of Robots: Poems
L.E.S. REVIEW
woeful masturbation