Tamera Avery Personal Statement

My work is a celebration of youth, where the young are the champions of change in flawed social, political, and environmental landscapes. Faced with ever-mounting global change, the young have the knowledge to understand what is at stake and—with their increasingly powerful voices—the ability to rearrange the balance of power. To shift this balance visually, my subjects wear masks and costumes that augment their agency and the space they take up. Originally prompted by folk carnivals celebrating the arrival of spring, I employ found images and objects along with homemade costumes to portray figures modest in composition but heroic in execution. Through a process starting with collage, isolated images function as vocabulary, deconstructing visual truths and reconstructing them into stories that call for action. Using imagery from the White House to Chernobyl, icebergs to abandoned ships, I work at the intersection of the current reality and the possibility of change to tell a story of hope in a landscape of despair—with armor-clad youth standing in the path of destruction.

Solo & Two Person Exhibitions

2020 In the Wake, Gearbox Gallery, Oakland, California

2019 Hell’s Valley, Jen Tough Gallery, Benicia, California
2019 Split Screen, Gearbox Gallery, Oakland, California

2018 Off the Rails, Merced College Art Gallery, Merced, California

2017 Inner Gallery, Gearbox Gallery, Oakland, California

Group Shows

2022 Fascination, Andra Norris Gallery, Burlingame, California

2020 The de Young Open Exhibit, de Young Museum, San Francisco, California

2020 Left Coast Annual Juried Exhibition, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, California

2020 Over and Under, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, California

2019 Salon at the Triton Competition, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California

2019 Art Market San Francisco, Jen Touch Gallery, San Francisco, California

2019 Wild Things, A POPUP Exhibition, Jen Tough Galley, San Francisco, California
2019 Crocker Kingsley Exhibition, Roseville, California2019 Switching Gears, Axis Gallery, Sacramento, California

2018 Salon at the Triton Competition, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California

2018    New Land, A POPUP Exhibition, Jen Tough Gallery, San Francisco, California
2018    After Dark, Arts Benicia, Benicia California
2018    Summer Show, Jen Tough Gallery, Benicia, California
2018    Art Santa Fe, Jen Tough Gallery, New Mexico,
2018    Gearbox Gallery, Oakland, California

2017 Salon at the Triton Competition, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California

2017 Wild/Mind, Gearbox Gallery, Oakland, California

2016 Fresh Works, Harrington Gallery, Pleasanton, California

2016 Salon at the Triton Competition, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California

2015 Gems III, Arts Benicia, Benicia, California

2015 Left Coast Annual, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, California

2015 West Coast Biennial Exhibition, Turtle Bay Museum, Redding, California

2014 Summer National, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, California

2013 Statewide Painting Competition, Triton Museum of Arts, Santa Clara, California

2013 Where to From There?, Pro Arts Juried Annual, Oakland, California

2013 Array, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, California

2013 A Date with the Devil, Napa Valley Museum, Yountville, California
2013 28th Annual Tallahassee International, Museum of Fine Arts, Florida State University

Publication

2020 Identity, Jen Tough Gallery

2020 New American Paintings #145 Pacific Coast

2013 28th Annual Tallahassee International (catalogue)

Awards

2020 Juror’s Award, 2020 Left Coast Annual, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, California

2019 First Place, Crocker Kingsley Exhibition, Blue Line Art, Roseville, California

2018 First Place Painting, Salon at the Triton, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California

2017 First Place Painting, Salon at the Triton, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California

2017 Gearbox Award, Gearbox Gallery, Oakland, California