Artist Statement

I grew up around art and artists. It has always been a natural part of my life, a necessary component to my happiness. I paint and sculpt because it brings me a deep joy and sense of being that I have not found elsewhere, as well as relief in the expression of my discomforts and confusion in this life.

I look to nature for inspiration and ideas. Nature with its many worlds coexisting at once, is always fully alive, present, and perfectly authentic. Animals, their symbolism and magic, have always fascinated me, full of so many shapes and designs, patterns and colors, seeming to come from stranger worlds than this one.

Most of my work so far comes from my imagination. Art is my expression, my process, a searching through myself, the sorting out of my experiences and what I am. This attention to what is inside me, and all of us, has led me to a fascination with what is literally inside our bodies: our bones, our veins, heart; and how we are connected to the world around us.                                                                           

-Taira Graham