Cutting and Pasting with Angela Tannehill.

Angela Tannehill has been creating since she was a child living in the country. “I’d make things out of whatever was on hand—milkweed pods became mice, seashells turned into frog faces, the paper lining from my mom’s pantyhose became a sketch pad,” she remembers.

Growing up in the country gave her a love of nature and the wild. In those days, “anything living was fair game to become a pet, if only for a few minutes before being released again.” But her love of nature transcends this, becoming almost spiritual. “[W]hat draws me in the most is my belief that we’re one small part of a single living organism that is our world. I think that’s why my work is most often a collection of, well, pretty much everything.”

 

 

Despite Tannehill’s early creativity and degree in painting and printmaking, she took a break from creating after college. It was not until six years ago that she slowly came back to her roots, starting with small found-object robots, then sewing cloth creatures, and finally her current medium of collage.

With collages, she revels in the act of cutting and pasting, blending textures, mediums, and images in her work. These are then layered with acrylic paint on canvas or wood, then finished with translucent paint to “enhance or knock back certain elements to achieve the depth I’m looking for.”

 Now Tannehill is both a mixed media artist and self-employed and self-proclaimed “designer for do-gooders” who provides services for local non-profit organizations in and around the Sacramento area. When not exploring the “connections between seemingly disparate entities” in her work, Tannehill works with clients like 916 Ink, an organization devoted to “empowering at-risk youth with the gift of self-expression through writing,” says the artist. She has designed their books, serves as a board member, and donates her time to their cause.

 

Tannehill has recently acquired a high-end Epson printer and scanner and says the quality is high enough that she is considering expanding to digital collages in the near future. She promises to update her website with these in time for holiday shopping. “I love that I can offer affordable prints that I’m 100% satisfied with (rare, I have to say).”

Until then you can catch Tannehill’s work in the show Masked, curated by Lorrie Kempf from September 16ht to November 16th at the SMUD Gallery 6301 S Street (at 65th Street), Sacramento. Her microart will be up DaDas Art Gallery Boutique in October. The Boutique is at 3655 J St, Sacramento. You can also pick up a tote with She Was Everything (above) on it at The Starving Canvas.