statement

Through my work I present visual experiences.  I begin by observing  things around me.  The closer I look, though, the less clear these things seem.  Objects and edges shift and evolve; drawing becomes a dialogue between form and process, representation and abstraction, imaginary and real.

My drawings of natural objects were inspired by traditions of scientific illustration.  I work from observation sketching and photographing to compose a larger image.  I'm absorbed by the task of seeing increasing amounts of detail and rendering forms and surfaces.   Strangely, the forms continue to elude me, they hover mysteriously on the page.  The drawings embody both the desire to understand through careful, slow analysis and an awareness of the ultimate impossibility of this attempt.

bio

born: 1968, Canada

education

Concordia University, Canada, MFA, 1994
Queen's University, Canada, BFA, 1990

selected awards/honors

Brucebo Fine Arts Scholarship and Residency, Gotland Konst Museum, Sweden, 1994
Graduate Teaching Fellowship, Concordia University, 1992
Anniversary Scholarship, Queen's University, 1986

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Edith Smith Gallery, Grinnell College:  Intimate Nature:  Drawings by Tara Shukla, Grinnell, Iowa, 2013
Waldemar A. Schmidt Gallery, Wartburg College:  Tara Shukla:  Rope Drawings,  Waverly, Iowa, 2010
Project Art, University of Iowa Hospitals:  Studies for an Imaginary Rope, Iowa City, Iowa, 2009

selected group shows

Cloyde Snook Gallery, Adams State University:  Past, Present, Future:  Works by ASC Faculty,  Alamosa, Colorado, 2007