It's like my hand is dancing with the paint.
~Amber Tattersall
Interview with Visual Artist, Amber Tattersall
When we're building an issue of West Trestle Review, we're never quite sure how the visual art will cohere with the texts until we're near the end of the process and we've pulled it all together. With this issue, however, we saw that the bright, abstract paintings of Canadian artist Amber Tattersall—with their simple sketched hints of the everyday: a chair, a building, a flower, a bridge—reflect the themes of the texts we've chosen, sometimes with a funhouse mirror effect. We are pleased that Tattersall agreed to share her work with us, as well as a bit about her history and process.
Oli Joyce: Your paintings are stunning and emotional, and we would love to know more about the person behind the art. You’ve described the moment you picked up the paintbrush again after years of not having created art. Can you describe the experience of returning to paint? Was there a change that allowed you to create once again?
Amber Tattersall: I stumbled upon my love for painting by accident really, at the age of 32. I was going through a depressive period in my life, and I could not figure out why. I seemed to feel as though there was an emptiness inside, where there shouldn't have been, as life was pretty much perfect at the time. My Husband, Justin, suggested I think back to when I was a teenager, what fulfilled me at that point in life. I remembered my love for art class. Off we went to the art store, to pick up paints as he suggested I try that medium out for fun. Interestingly it was charcoal sketching that I adored in school, and I never thought I would fall in love with painting as I have done. I have yet to put the paintbrush down. I am forever in his debt!
OJ: How do you start a new painting?
AT: It really depends on my mood on that day. I seem to be ruled by my emotive state when it comes to what I end up creating. I start with a blank canvas or a piece of watercolor paper, and I decide if I want to do a landscape, a portrait or an absolute abstract. Funny thing is, once I start to add layers, I may start to "see" something. The abstract may have the outline of a face, or the ridge of a mountain top, ever so slightly. Once the path has been found, It is almost like I subconsciously blur my vision a bit, fully allowing the painting to lead me to where it wants to go. It's like my hand is dancing with the paint. Sounds strange, I know!
OJ: You’ve shared a beautiful and compelling quote from Carrie Fisher when sharing your journey as an artist: “Take your broken heart and turn it into art.” Can you tell me a little more about this quote and how it speaks to you?
AT: I adore this Carrie Fisher quote so much! I believe we have all suffered through a broken heart, at one point or another. How we deal with our sorrows really does impact our every day lives. Myself, I find some of my moodier, earlier post-contemporary landscapes are perhaps a bit of my more melancholy side coming out. Painting has allowed me to heal, without knowing it was what was needed.
I grew up on the coast, in Vancouver BC. My mother, Lorraine, was quite sick for most of my teens and early 20s. She passed away when I was 24. It was hard to watch her suffer for so long, easier to say goodbye, in knowing she was at peace at last. Art has become an amazing form of therapy for me. A quiet moment of self-reflection and inner-growth, where one can mend the cracks of yesterday. My hope is that when a viewer looks at one of my paintings, they too feel a sense of quiet calm within. A small distraction from their own struggles in life. Or perhaps, while their imagination is at play, they too awaken their inner child to the healing powers that art provides.
Oli Joyce: Your paintings are stunning and emotional, and we would love to know more about the person behind the art. You’ve described the moment you picked up the paintbrush again after years of not having created art. Can you describe the experience of returning to paint? Was there a change that allowed you to create once again?
Amber Tattersall: I stumbled upon my love for painting by accident really, at the age of 32. I was going through a depressive period in my life, and I could not figure out why. I seemed to feel as though there was an emptiness inside, where there shouldn't have been, as life was pretty much perfect at the time. My Husband, Justin, suggested I think back to when I was a teenager, what fulfilled me at that point in life. I remembered my love for art class. Off we went to the art store, to pick up paints as he suggested I try that medium out for fun. Interestingly it was charcoal sketching that I adored in school, and I never thought I would fall in love with painting as I have done. I have yet to put the paintbrush down. I am forever in his debt!
OJ: How do you start a new painting?
AT: It really depends on my mood on that day. I seem to be ruled by my emotive state when it comes to what I end up creating. I start with a blank canvas or a piece of watercolor paper, and I decide if I want to do a landscape, a portrait or an absolute abstract. Funny thing is, once I start to add layers, I may start to "see" something. The abstract may have the outline of a face, or the ridge of a mountain top, ever so slightly. Once the path has been found, It is almost like I subconsciously blur my vision a bit, fully allowing the painting to lead me to where it wants to go. It's like my hand is dancing with the paint. Sounds strange, I know!
OJ: You’ve shared a beautiful and compelling quote from Carrie Fisher when sharing your journey as an artist: “Take your broken heart and turn it into art.” Can you tell me a little more about this quote and how it speaks to you?
AT: I adore this Carrie Fisher quote so much! I believe we have all suffered through a broken heart, at one point or another. How we deal with our sorrows really does impact our every day lives. Myself, I find some of my moodier, earlier post-contemporary landscapes are perhaps a bit of my more melancholy side coming out. Painting has allowed me to heal, without knowing it was what was needed.
I grew up on the coast, in Vancouver BC. My mother, Lorraine, was quite sick for most of my teens and early 20s. She passed away when I was 24. It was hard to watch her suffer for so long, easier to say goodbye, in knowing she was at peace at last. Art has become an amazing form of therapy for me. A quiet moment of self-reflection and inner-growth, where one can mend the cracks of yesterday. My hope is that when a viewer looks at one of my paintings, they too feel a sense of quiet calm within. A small distraction from their own struggles in life. Or perhaps, while their imagination is at play, they too awaken their inner child to the healing powers that art provides.
Amber Tattersall is a painter who first discovered her love for art in high school. She began her obsession with creativity by sketching portraits with charcoal, and soon had her own key to the schools art room. Photography was also a favorite pastime, and she especially loved exploring the ever-changing beauty that nature provided. Her newfound love of acrylic painting came by accident, just five years years ago, at the age of 32. Picking up a paintbrush for the first time in over a decade, to paint alongside her daughter, Amber realized she had found the missing piece in her life she had been looking for. She has yet to put the paintbrush down. Amber specializes in post-contemporary landscapes and seascapes, as well as expressive contemporary abstracts. Her paintings are in private collection in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Ontario, throughout the US and in Scotland. She has been invited to showcase her art in the Brick Lane Gallery in London, the Clio Art Fair in New York and was recently asked to be part of the new Arts Market in Vancouver, BC. Her work has been part of a group show at Roam Galley in Vancouver and at Raw Vancouver. Tattersall and her husband have recently moved from her hometown of Vancouver BC, to snowy Fort Saint John, BC. Tattersall is mom to a bright, inquisitive, 10-year-old girl, and a creative 16-year-old step daughter. Tattersall's wish is that when people view her artwork, it re-awakens their imagination and memory to something perhaps once lost. Her heart is poured out into every brush stroke, as she paints from her own long-lost memory, unplanned, to surprise both the viewer and herself as well.