In her artwork Elizabeth Tana translates emotions and images from her past into harmonious compositions. A catalog of memories from her early journeys in TsingTao in northern China to more recent experiences in San Francisco provide a continual source of inspiration. As a result, her work is diverse in its expression and medium. Constantly surrounded by the arts growing up, she experimented early with Chinese brush painting, piano, and ballet. Elizabeth’s parents were both life-long collectors of Asian art, which provided her with yet another avenue to explore painting.
Vibrant color and a strong sense of space dominate her approach to painting. Elizabeth responds to her surroundings and ever-shifting moods on the surface of the canvas. Her brush stokes display this emotional response, often thick and gestured. Her body of work displays her versatility of materials and formats, most often being realized in works on canvas and monoprints on paper.
Elizabeth graduated from the University of Oregon with a major in interior architecture and a minor in painting. After a career as an interior architect and subsequently raising her two children, she returned to art. Like the strong influence of the arts at an early childhood, Elizabeth’s background in architecture has helped shape her artwork, both oil painting and printmaking.
