Teresa Mandala
Teresa Mandala is an artist whose work explores the essence of being through vibrant color, dynamic movement, and layered textures. She grew up in Rockford, Illinois, and later moved to Kansas City, where she earned a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute. She now lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, where she balances a virtual advertising studio with her work as a practicing artist and art instructor. While Mandala has worked in porcelain and other materials, she has recently turned her focus to watercolors, allowing their fluidity and transparency to bring subtle energies and insights into her work. Drawing from careful observation and personal experience, she transforms struggles, triumphs, and moments of reflection into universally resonant ideas.Â
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Artist Statement
As far back as I can remember, I’ve found solace both in the arms of nature and in the deep, quiet spaces of my mind. In these realms, I encounter a sense of peace and a connection to life that transcends the everyday. These experiences continually inform my work. Landscapes often evoke feelings or memories, and I am drawn to translate these connections visually, creating a dialogue between what is seen and what is felt.
I draw inspiration from the places I inhabit, the experiences I encounter, and the cultures that surround me. The movement of color, texture, and form in my work reflects the energy I perceive in these environments, translating the rhythms of life into visual expression. By observing and responding to both personal and collective experiences, I create dream-like landscapes that explore the interplay between memory, emotion, and the world around us.
My work spans painting, ceramics, sculpture, and graphic design, and I take a cross-disciplinary approach that allows each medium to inform and inspire the others. I enjoy exploring the unique qualities of each material, such as the fluidity of watercolor, the tactile texture of ceramics, or the layered patterns in graphic design, to create compositions where color, movement, and energy intersect. Through this interplay, I invite the viewer into spaces where metaphor, intuition, and emotion come to life.
Through careful observation and attunement to energy, I translate fleeting moments and subtle sensations into visual form. In watercolor, transparency and fluidity allow me to explore the interplay of movement, light, and emotion, capturing the impermanent and ever-shifting qualities of experience. Patterns, gestures, and layered washes become a way to reflect connection—to nature, to memory, and to the unseen forces that shape our perception of the world.
My ultimate aim as an artist is to shift the way viewers perceive themselves in the world: to move beyond separation from others and nature, and awaken to the interconnectedness and vitality of LIFE.
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