Tara Will • Maryland • waow
Unlike the spoken word, where language can leave a listener feeling like an outsider— visual art has no prerequisites to participate. As such, we as artists have the supreme honor of taking a vision and sharing it with our viewers. When we create, we ask ourselves the ultimate question: Why? What is it about a place, a person, a subject that makes us want to share with our viewers. What do we want them to experience? Do we want to dance? Do we want to fight? The beautiful thing about what we do is not only that we get to partake in producing works that fill our souls, but we get to share it with a viewer who can interpret it however they please. A language for all—shared by artists, deciphered by viewers. It matters not what the artist “meant” or how the viewer “feels”. Both are equally legitimate. When the painting leaves the easel and goes out into the world, it is no longer ours to dictate. The viewer picks up the baton and chooses where to run with it. The ultimate form of communication.
Tara Will attended Mount Saint Mary’s University in Maryland double majoring in Art and Philosophy. She has participated in numerous national plein air competitions painting from East coast to West. 2024 marked her first solo museum exhibition “Wild Beauty” with the Fort Wayne Museum of Art. She achieved the highest international designation, Eminent Pastellist, with the International Association of Pastel Societies in 2022.
She was introduced to the Western landscape through plein air. Painting on site outdoors in Wyoming, New Mexico, California, Utah, Oregon, Colorado, and Arizona has helped her understand how to reflect the beauty of the west to the viewer. The Western landscape offers her a different palette of inspiration— contrary to the greens of the east coast.
Tara paints unapologetically with bold marks, stark value contrasts, and surprising color combinations. Her hope is to have a conversation with the viewer. She wants to convey to the viewer a sense of place with energetic marks and interesting compositions. These days, instead of the plein air circuit she has been working in the studio in pastel, oil, printmaking, and glass. She currently resides in Maryland with her husband and four children.
Unlike the spoken word, where language can leave a listener feeling like an outsider— visual art has no prerequisites to participate. As such, we as artists have the supreme honor of taking a vision and sharing it with our viewers. When we create, we ask ourselves the ultimate question: Why? What is it about a place, a person, a subject that makes us want to share with our viewers. What do we want them to experience? Do we want to dance? Do we want to fight? The beautiful thing about what we do is not only that we get to partake in producing works that fill our souls, but we get to share it with a viewer who can interpret it however they please. A language for all—shared by artists, deciphered by viewers. It matters not what the artist “meant” or how the viewer “feels”. Both are equally legitimate. When the painting leaves the easel and goes out into the world, it is no longer ours to dictate. The viewer picks up the baton and chooses where to run with it. The ultimate form of communication.
