"The works of Alicia Tormey are wild and intoxicating...
with jewel tones,
spacial complexity...
abstract passages and
giddy motion".
The Boston Globe
Alicia Tormey is best known for her organic imagery and inventive techniques that involve a blend of bees wax, resin, shellac and raw pigments. Wielding a blow torch, Tormey cultivates these materials into ethereal images of distant landscapes, waterways and explosive flora. Alicia's work has been featured on the cover of Professional Artist Magazine and in numerous other publications including Encaustic Arts Magazine and Studio Visit Magazine. She is the recipient of a Grant for Artists Projects (GAP) award from Artist Trust and her works have been included in numerous exhibitions and public collections throughout the United States and abroad. Tormey was recently invited by the U.S. State Department to exhibit her work in the American Embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Artist Statement
As a painter, I'm driven by curiosity, passion and a creative spirit. I am constantly experimenting in my studio and pushing the boundaries of my materials. I show up everyday and get to work...always anticipating the next big break through.
The unpredictable nature of encaustic and the flame of my torch captivates me and pulls me into a medatative state of deep focus and creativity.The mystery of not knowing what's going to happen next has the power to hold my attention for long stretches of time.
It is my intention to share these feelings of mystery and excitement and convey the sense of delight and wonderment that I experience while creating the work. Through my paintings, I am inducing an experience not unlike the act of cloud gazing. As your eye weaves in and out of the more abstracted areas of the work, you the viewer, can also begin to experience the creative process within yourself as you visually engage with my art.
I have had a lifelong fascination with nature and science. Especially the power of wind, ocean tides, the lyrical flow of waterways and the patterns and substructures that emerge in the organic world. This obsession is still a constant source of inspiration for me as a painter. In my works I express the impact of these elements in a suspension of time and space that feels organic and spontaneous. ~ Alicia Tormey
