Like most art, even the most literal or figurative, mine is a mixture of memory and actual experience, an alloy of residues of what has transpired in my life with the various ways my mind remembers these incidents.  Hence false cognates, hallucinated moments and misinterpretations exist in innocence by the side of actual documentation and transparent portrayal.  In this context, even untruths exhibit the spirit of sincerity.

Most significantly, my travels, relationship with the plants and my environment, and my relationship with my daughter, foster personal growth and by extension feed my paintings and work. All of these relationships have taken my aesthetic in unpredicted directions. These experiences have been a continued source of inspiration to me in my work ever since.

Tara Chickey is the arts director and an in-house artist at The Millworks, Harrisburg, PA. Her studio is #323.