Tom Relth - instructor and artist
Tom Relth
[email protected]
(360) 561-4245
Tom Relth Painting Website: www.relth.org
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomrelth/
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Artist Statement
"Sometimes it is challenging to see the forest for the trees. To overcome this, I take a break from my work and return to it later with fresh eyes. I know my work is complete when it no longer “irritates” me. My paintings are created on large canvases or panels and incorporate both natural and everyday objects using traditional tube paints and dry mineral pigments. I focus on the abstraction of ideas and use arbitrary color choices. Sometimes, I will even paint the sky a bright yellow or use the "wrong" color and allow atmospheric light to creep into the work. Regardless of whether I am trying to represent an object, landscape, or feeling, I always trust my inner voice and keep going, even when I'm not sure if it will work out. Whether attempting to represent an object, a landscape, or a feeling, I follow that inner voice that argues to keep going. Maybe it will work out, maybe not. Perhaps, I will get to the other end of the forest. My paintings are more an extension of my life than anything. Now, painting for well over 50 years, but more concentrated in the last 20, I find that my work is a place for experimentation and learning. It is my intention in this to glorify the Creator's creation. My current interest is to share what I have learned with the younger generation. Often these exchanges are, illuminating and wonderful for not only the student but for the teacher." - Tom Relth Further Introduction: Tom Relth was born in Los Angeles and currently lives and works in downtown Vancouver, WA. Relth is a contemporary abstract expressionist painter, generally working on larger format linen, canvas, paper, and wood panels. He uses both tube paints and dry pigments, such as minerals and dried herbs and spices found in Mediterranean cuisine. Relth offers a potent look at abstraction and the use of color. The images depict a kind of atmospheric light and a suggestion of matter at its inception. His works are often fluid and rarely focus on form, but rather imply an intangible depth. The works have both a vibrancy of color and a paradoxical calmness. The artist has developed a special process that includes the use of ground minerals (blues and pinks) and dry cooking spices like turmeric (yellows), paprika (reds), and cumin (earth tones), mixing his own paints with special glues and resins. The process suggests early European paint methods and the Japanese process of Nihonga |
Educator Experience:
Visual Art /Fine Art classes at the largest American International school in North Africa - 5 years • Established new classes and curriculums: Within the first year, built up the non-existent Visual Arts Department, and prospered it into flourishing Fine Arts and Digital Graphic Arts departments including many new class offerings. • Advanced art class offerings to international and or collegiate levels. Built a complete curriculum and structure for all new classes. Established and taught a solid curriculum for semester-long classes in 2-D Drawing and Painting, 3-D Architecture & Sculpture, Fundamentals of Art & Design, Publications & Digital Art Education: • Masters of Arts, Fine Art: California State University – Fullerton, CA • Bachelor of Arts, Fine Art: California State University – Fullerton, CA Teaching Experience: Biola University Art Department, California • Instructor Printmaking: Woodcut, type, and etching. • Instructor Art History : Global Art Paradigm George Washington Academy, Casablanca Morocco • Instructor Design Basics • Instructor Drawing and Painting • Instructor Graphic Artist: Print and Web Design • Instructor Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop • Instructor Digital Photography • Instructor Art History • Instructor Yearbook Related Experience: • Practicing Artist - Painter: Mixed Media and Acrylic • Represented by Portland Art Museum – Rental Sales Gallery. • Artist: AOCC Juried Open Studios 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 • Exhibiting Artist: USA and Morocco • Former Curator: Vancouver, WA • Former Curator: Casablanca, Morocco • Former board member: Southwest Washington Watercolor Society • Former Director: Arts of Clark County (ARTSTRA) • Former Member: North Bank Artists Community • Former Business Owner: Print Finishing Machinery, • Former Consultant: Steel Rule Dies for High-Speed Post-Press Printing Machinery • Former Business Owner: Advertising Graphics Design |
Exhibition Experience:
2023 Exhibitions and Installations: • Portland Art Museum RSG Fall, Portland, OR • In the Beginning, Art at the Cave, Vancouver, WA • The Hampton Inn, the Pearl, Portland, OR 2022 Exhibitions and Installations: • Open Studios Preview, Art at the CAVE, Vancouver, WA • Fifty Artists in Clark County WA, Clark Open Studios • Tom Relth & Paul Solevad, Vancouver Library, WA • Forgeries, Art at the CAVE, Vancouver, WA • Portland Art Museum RSG Fall, Portland, OR 2021 Exhibitions and Installations: • Fifty Artists in Clark County WA, Open Studios • Portland Art Museum RSG Fall, Portland, OR 2020 Exhibitions and Installations: • Art at the CAVE, Vancouver, WA Juried • Portland Art Museum RSG, Fall, Portland, OR • Union Chapel, Vancouver, WA 2019 Exhibitions and Installations: • Fifty Artists in Clark County WA, Open Studios • Union Chapel, Vancouver, WA • Rebecca Anstine Sixth Floor Gallery, Vancouver, WA 2018 Exhibitions and Installations: • Open Studios Preview, Art at the CAVE, Vancouver, WA • Fifty Artists in Clark County WA, Open Studios • Loft Gallery, Vancouver, WA • Portland Art Museum RSG, Portland, OR, invitational • Vancouver City Hall, Vancouver, WA • Paintings, Tom Relth, Portland Providence Medical Center • Camas Gallery, Camas WA, Paint out, 2-Person • City Hall, Vancouver, WA • Exhibitions and Installations: • Open Studios Preview -Art at the CAVE, Vancouver, WA • Fifty Artists in Clark County WA, Open Studios • Tom Relth, Second Story Gallery, Camas Public Library • Portland Art Museum RSG, Portland, OR, Invitational • Paintings by Tom Relth, Three Creeks Public Library 2016 Exhibitions and Installations: • Boomerang Fine Art, Vancouver, WA, Tom Relth 70 Works • Arts of Clark County, Vancouver, WA, Open Studios • Fort Vancouver National Park, Vancouver, WA, Centennial • Boomerang Fine Art, Vancouver, WA, 7 Emerging Artists • North Bank Artists, Vancouver, WA, æthers |
Prior Exhibition Experience:
2015 Exhibitions and Installations: • Open Studios of Clark County, WA, • Above & Below Art Studio, Vancouver, WA, I See Yellow • North Bank Artists, Vancouver, WA, Aerial • Above & Below Art Studio, Vancouver, WA, Curator • Lower Columbia College - Rose Center for the Arts Gallery • Fort Vancouver Library Foundation, WA "Meet the Artist" • Portland Art Museum RSG, Portland, OR, June 2014 Exhibitions and Installations: • 50 Artists in Clark County Washington – Open Studios • departures: Diana Relth & Tom Relth / North Bank Artists Gallery, Vancouver, WA • Power of Words/North Bank Gallery Vancouver, WA • LSW Architects Vancouver, WA Installation • Boomerang Vancouver, WA Installation • Hokusei Sushi East Portland, OR Installation • Fort Vancouver Library Foundation, WA Exhibition • Vancouver Community Library, Vancouver, WA, Exhibition • Light & Pigment, WSU Vancouver, WA Exhibition • Compass Church Vancouver, WA Exhibition 2013 Exhibitions and Installations: • Drew-Jones Gallery Recent Work, Vancouver, WA • North Bank Artists Gallery, Student Show, Co-Curator 2012 Exhibitions and Installations: • Reg’ Art, Mine d’Art, Art Gallery, Casablanca • Heaven & Earth, Passion & Penchant, Les Ateliers Libres, Casablanca - Solo 2011 Exhibitions and Installations: • Precious Waters – Troubled Waters, GWA, Casablanca, Curator/Organizer 2010 Exhibitions and Installations: • Arkane, Ex Cathédrale du Sacré Cœur, Casablanca • Keep Morocco Beautiful II, L’Ancien Abattoir, Casablanca 2009 Exhibitions • Keep Morocco Beautiful, Casablanca, Curator/Organizer 2006 Exhibitions • Exhibition Seeds, St Johns Lutheran Church, Orange, CA 2005 Exhibitions • Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, CA 2003 Exhibitions • Biola University, Los Angeles, CA |
