The Art of
Tamar Kander ~by Bill Weaver
“I
’ve always made art,” says Tamar Kander. “My mother tells stories about me when I was sick in bed painting on her walls. She’d say, ‘That’s fine but clean that up!’” she laughs. “I was lucky because I was encouraged. When I finished high school and said I wanted to study art, nobody said, ‘Get a real job.’” Kander was born in Israel, living there for seven years before her parents moved to South Africa for a respite that became a stay. She finished her schooling there, including a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, before continuing her studies in Italy and London, where she was awarded a Masters of Fine Arts as well as a degree in Art Therapy at Goldsmiths, University of London. In the meantime, her hobby of collecting vintage clothing had become something of a career when she began selling her discoveries to Ralph Lauren in New York. “I realized that if I was
6 INto ART • April–June 2013
photo by Steve Raymer
really going be serious about painting and do the work, I had to focus, so I jumped off the deep end.” The deep end was in New York City where she studied at the Art Students League, living near Times Square. “It was weird,” she says. At the school she met artist Joe Lee, who had entered the Students League after a stint with Hoxie Brothers Circus. Lee suggested they visit Bloomington. “It’s exhausting living in New York!” she continues. “All of the energy I put into just living there, in Bloomington I could put into my work. It was so much easier to live and so much cheaper. However it’s important to maintain contact with large cities, especially galleries, museums, and just to be in an urban environment.” While feeling compelled to devote all her time to art, the reality was that she also had to make a living, working for Jill Schaffer at Cactus Flower in Bloomington. “I agreed to one afternoon a week—I was too dedicated to have a job that would take me away from the studio,” she laughs. “I wound up working three days a week for her. I came here knowing no one. Bam! Here I
”I realized that if I was really going be serious about painting and do the work, I had to focus, so I jumped off the deep end.”