Get to know Trish Tuckwiller, our September WV Artist on Display. Trish has lived in West Virginia since the age of two and holds a degree in Early Childhood Education. She has always had an artistic side and expresses this imagination through the use of fabrics, painting, basketry, pottery, and papermaking. Her specialty is textiles and she creates mixed media with high quality cotton. Sometimes her end product is a bed quilt, a wall-hanging collage style textile, or a wall-hanging sculptural piece. Trish currently lives with her husband and six sassy cats on a cattle farm in the heart of the Greenbrier Valley. Learn more about Trish with our Q&A.

How do you describe your palette?

Although I typically work with bright colors, I never shy away from any color palette.  My two latest pieces are a perfect example of that—“Twilight”  (which can be seen at WV Fine Artisans) uses grey blues and red violets where as “In My Time of Dying” uses a mostly neutral palette of grays and blacks.  I like to use particular color palettes to set a mood.  I find it to be a fun challenge to explore a variety of color palettes.  Why limit yourself?

What’s your greatest accomplishment?

As an artist I feel my greatest accomplishment is always making my next piece better than the last one.  For me, it is not about ribbons and awards.  It is about perfectly portraying the concept in my medium the way I see it in my head and evoking an emotional connection with the viewer.

What obstacles do you need to overcome to find your creative space/muse?

Right now, time seems to be my biggest factor.  So many obligations pull my attention and time away from my art.  I find sitting quietly on my back porch listening to my Arias wind chimes helps to center me and draw my creative focus.  The breeze blows across my skin and the soft tones of the chimes help me to be one with my thoughts/creativity and all of the extraneous stuff melts away.

How do you find your inspiration?

Words are like a flowing mountain stream in my mind that sparks colorful images.  Words have s o much meaning.  It could be a movie title, lyrics of a song or simply a single word. Take the word “Absolution”, there is so much meaning in that single word. I guess it seems a little odd that words are my inspiration, but that is just how my mind works.

What advice do you have for other artists?

Believe in your gift.  True artists feel a need to create.  It is like breathing—you have to do it to survive and to be happy. Because we are creating something new, something unusual, or working in a new medium, there tends to be self doubt—will people like it? Is it good enough?  Let all of that go, just believe and create.

Trish Tuckwiller’s work may be exclusively found at WV Fine Artisans Gallery in downtown Lewisburg, located beside the Wild Bean and Greenbrier Valley Theatre, at 1042 E. Washington Street. She has about 9 pieces showcased at the gallery. To contact Trish, email her at tttangus@frontier.com or call her direct at 304-661-6203

– HashtagWV September 2017.