Artist Statement:
“Since the time of childhood, I’ve always listened to my inner-self and intuition more than anything or anyone else, which has led me to be an independent thinker. This trust in myself has also led me to understand that timelessness is a source of freedom. It’s this energy that my artwork is created from. The structural importance of my work relies on different things. In my paintings, I have one-of-a-kind palettes, composition and texture. For instance, because I create in the now, where there’s no boundaries to what I can say due to an inner atmosphere of stillness and movement, the palettes are composed of discovered colors made up of many layers of paints, natural and man-made materials giving the work a sculptural feel. Also, importantly and intentionally incorporated in these paintings are line-marks that vary in length and form.
In my other work such as constructs, I’m building my abstract images on panels using various materials in which I’m creating on the spot, but with keen observation of the unknown through my intuition and imagination. All my work is the end result of a unique process that can be described as transcendent, transformational and open-minded.
Since 2014, I’ve been creating my work at OPEN GROUND STUDIOS (OGS), in Seaside, Ca. This art-space has become a part of me and my art. I have great gratitude for OGS because it’s a place where I can let go while making visual work. This is a precious aspect of being an artist… fortunately finding a sacred sanctuary like OGS where the Art Community becomes the heart of a larger community. As a result, my pieces are informed by: nature, the unknown, impermanence and humility where definitions of any kind are absent. They are made in a meditative approach so that they are what the viewer makes of them…going beyond words and entering a non linear visual space, like a space before time and in timelessness.”
“When working on a painting or art piece, the source of creation is the unknown and
the work evolves through sheer will. I leave myself behind and I enter a timeless
reality where things become undefinable by words and I merge with the piece.”
Terese Garcia is a non representational painter and artist. She was born in
Hollywood, Ca and was raised in Covina, Ca in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles
County. As a child she visited the pyramids of Teotihuacan, Mexico, the Grand
Canyon and Yosemite. These ancient, natural and human made wonders had a
profound impact on her and inspired her to look within herself. This was the
impetus for she being an artist.
In 1986, she was awarded a BA in Political Science from the University of
California, Santa Barbara. In her last year there, she took art classes through the
University Art Department. It was during that time that she found her true
vocation and has been active in the arts since then. She went on to study at Otis
Parsons School of Art and Design in Los Angeles, Ca. After experiencing some life changing events, she began abstracting her imagery and figures and overtime, has
become a powerful and strong non representational painter and artist. In 1992 she
relocated to the Monterey Peninsula where she resides with her husband.
Her art is in private collections and she’s had numerous group, juried and solo
exhibitions throughout California and in New York. She self published “ABSTRACT
DESIGNS TO COLOR” coloring book for children and adults in 2008. This coloring
book was sold at the Phoenix Ship in Big Sur, Ca and Bay Books Bookstore in
Monterey, Ca. In 2010 she was chosen as an Artist-in-Resident by the Vermont
Studio Center (VSC) in Johnson, VT for writers and visual artists from around the
world. She was also awarded an Artist Grant by the VSC.
Her work is represented by Gloria Delson Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles, and
Art a la Folie online Gallery. She’s currently an active member of the Pacific
Grove Arts Center, Pacific Grove, Ca., Open Ground Studios, Seaside, Ca., and San
Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, Ca.