Journal of Writing & Environment

Visual art by Tara Shukla

Visual Art by Tara Shukla

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Tara Shukla was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. She holds a BFA from Queen’s University (Kingston, Ontario) and an MFA from Concordia University (Montreal, Quebec.) Her work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Canada and the United States. She has taught drawing, painting, graphic design and art appreciation in art schools, museums and colleges. She is currently a drawing instructor at the Des Moines Art Center in Des Moines, Iowa. Her recent drawings have been on display in the Art Project at the University of Iowa Hospitals, The Waldemar A. Schmidt Gallery at Wartburg College and at the Edith Smith Gallery at Grinnell College. They are also part of the University of Iowa’s online archive The Daily Palette. Her work will soon be featured in the International Drawing Annual (INDA) 9 produced by Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati. For more information visit www.tarashukla.com

Through my work I present visual experiences. I begin by observing things around me. The closer I look, though, the less clear these things seem. Objects and edges shift and evolve; drawing becomes a dialogue between form and process, representation and abstraction, imaginary and real. My recent drawings of natural objects were inspired by traditions of scientific illustration. I work from observation sketching and photographing to compose a larger image. I’m absorbed by the task of seeing increasing amounts of detail and rendering forms and surfaces. Strangely, the forms continue to elude me, objects resemble other things: a flower becomes a skirt, a piece of fruit, a skull. The drawings embody both the desire to understand through careful, slow analysis and an awareness of the ultimate impossibility of this attempt.

Hibiscus Blossom by Tara Shukla

Charcoal on paper

Pomegranate by Tara Shukla

Charcoal on paper