Tamara Campbell
“It’s always a process of building and destroying. And then, out of this destruction, discovering a thing and building on it.” - David Lynch
I’ve been reflecting on my art – why I create the way that I do, why I’ve always dissected things.
I recently came across a David Lynch quote: “It’s always a process of building and destroying. And then, out of this destruction, discovering a thing and building on it.”
That perfectly describes my creative process. But it does not explain why. I had a great childhood, it was when I was a young adult that I ran into trouble. But even before those years of struggles, back when I was in photography school, I was dissecting my world in my photographic art. That’s where it really began to show up in my creative explorations. I didn’t have the chaos component in my life or my process back then, however, that came later.
I feel that now, after having lived for so many years with chaos as my sidekick, that it is easier to explain why I do the art that I do. My creative process begins with total freedom – choosing the colours, playing with marks and textures, following intuition. I create 5 paintings using the same palette. It’s meditative, blissful, and brings me joy. Then I step back, find the details that excite me, and photograph them. But to move forward, I must let go. Chaos enters. I flip the paintings over so that I can’t be precious about the details that spoke to me. I make marks on the backs of the paintings in varying widths and cut them into strips without knowing where the lines will fall. This is the moment of surrender, the step where I give up control – just like in life, when things that affect me happen outside of my control. Once cut, I mix the strips from the 5 paintings together.
After creating this chaos soup, which consists of about ninety strips, I take control again. I sort the strips by width and begin laying them out to create something new, starting with my biggest panels. I shift, swap, and arrange, searching for flow, emotion, a spark. This is where I make sense of the chaos – choosing how to respond, how to show up and how to let go.
Ultimately, my art is my meditation. It helps me to process my life. Even when I’m working through difficult challenges, my paintings remain joyful. My goal is to create a world that the viewer can escape into – getting lost in the colours, the details and the endless possibilities.
I share my art and process on my Instagram @tamara_h_campbell and on my Facebook art page Tamara H Campbell Art. My art can be found hanging at the Art Factory in Renfrew, ACP’s Art Hub in Carleton Place and the Kanata Civic Art Gallery as well as online through Arts Carleton Place (ACP), Kanata Civic Art Gallery, Art
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