William Wordsworth’s line, “The Child is father of the Man” from “My Heart Leaps Up,” joins a blend of my cold wax background with photo transfers. My nephew pours water from a coconut shell (on a beach in Hawaii) onto his uncle’s head silhouetted against an open bible (from the oldest church in New Zealand where Charles Darwin visited). The boy stands on a flower along the Coastal Trail where I often stroll in Anchorage, AK, my home. I share stories through cold wax paintings, sometimes including mixed media, fiber, assemblage, and photography. I lived my childhood years in Nebraska and Colorado, then adventured with my family to Anchorage in 1970, where I make art. My twenty-year career as a Montessori teacher influences my art, as does humor, relationships, nature, emotions, music, and ideas. I make beauty out of the unexpected. Antique stores inspire me. Layers of wax in my work provide a history, as do the materials and stories I incorporate. My work is in permanent collections — Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center; Museum of Encaustic Art, Santa Fe, NM. You can view her work at www.tamiphelps.com
Photo by Kerry Dean Feldman
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