BIOGRAPHY - Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Growing up in Huntington Beach, California, Kari Tirrell embraced her artistic interests from an early age. Like most children, she enjoyed school art projects, commenting that she “can still remember the smell of kindergarten paint.” She also recalls that her grade school teacher gave her a good mark in art, writing in her report card that “Kari puts in many details.” As it turned out, those childhood indicators would prove to be accurate signs of future career directions.
In her youth, Tirrell spent most of her free time drawing figural images of people and animals. As the third daughter in a family of four children, she had ample subjects for figure drawings; and she found additional sources in her environment. One of her mother’s books on Norman Rockwell provided inspiration—and perhaps instruction—for how to draw people effectively. Likewise, an unused pen and ink set belonging to her grandfather caught her attention in high school and became her primary medium. Tirrell also enjoyed the playfulness of Disney characters and liked the challenge of drawing them in ink. At that time, she imagined being a Disney animator would be “the best job in the world,” but later changed her mind when she saw a film that detailed exactly what was involved in the painstaking animation process.
After graduating from high school in 1983, Tirrell enrolled in the Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa where she took general studies courses in preparation for possibly transferring to a university at some future point in time. Meanwhile, she accepted a position at an advertising agency, where she was exposed to a world where drawing skills were highly valued. Ironically, one of the agency’s clients was the Disney Corporation, and Tirrell realized that animation and graphic design might have been an area of study she could pursue.
In 1986, Tirrell met the man who would become her husband. She and Don married in 1989 and lived in Long Beach, California for a brief time before heading north to Sacramento where they lived for three years. In 1992, they moved north again, this time to Gig Harbor, Washington, a town southwest of Seattle on Puget Sound. With its access to nearby parks and forests, and a great view of Mount Rainier, Gig Harbor was an ideal place to raise a family. Tirrell’s daughter was born in 1994 followed by a son in 1996.
The following decade was full of child-rearing as well as a new interest in the role of food as medicine. Tirrell had long struggled with autoimmune disorders that were finally correctly diagnosed as celiac disease in 2003. Identifying celiac disease as the cause of her health issues meant that she could make changes that would significantly improve the quality of her life. She could enjoy hiking in the forests and kayaking around Gig Harbor with renewed energy. Looking back today, she recognizes she has been healthier since 2003 than she had previously been at any other time in her life. Partly in response to her own experiences, Tirrell embarked on a course of study in clinical nutrition, noting that she thoroughly enjoyed researching and learning about the subject, but was less certain about working as a clinical nutritionist.
A few years later, Tirrell’s best friend, an abstract artist whom she had met at the ad agency in southern California, encouraged her to try painting. Tirrell was intrigued by the idea and decided to take the summer off to paint abstracts. She loved it. In fact, she enjoyed the experience so much she quickly abandoned the idea of clinical nutrition and kept painting. She put her work up for sale on eBay, and to her surprise and delight it sold quite well.
Tirrell increasingly felt the desire to paint in a realist style, and in 2008 made the switch from acrylic to oils. However, for quite some time she’d been feeling an intuitive pull toward pastels. She soon came across the work of Alicia St. Rose, a contemporary realist who was then working in pastels. St. Rose utilized a traditional grid transfer process that began with a photograph and emerged as an exquisitely rendered pastel image. Tirrell was fascinated with this effect and set out to master the technique in her own unique style.
Within months, as she perfected her technique in pastel, Tirrell realized that eBay was no longer the best outlet for her work and considered working with galleries. She began to enter competitive art exhibitions in 2009, submitting first to the Northwest Pastel Society shows, and then to the Pastel Society of America’s open juried exhibition in 2011. Her work received immediate notice, and often won recognition through various awards. Today, she is a Master Pastelist with the Pastel Society of America, a Distinguished Pastelist with the Pastel Society of the West Coast, a signature member of the Northwest Pastel Society, and a Master Circle member of the International Association of Pastel Societies.
As Tirrell continued to pursue realist still life imagery, she found herself searching for a compelling subject that was both fun and less conventional than tabletop settings of fruit and bread. The breakthrough came unexpectedly when she grouped some Christmas ornaments into a pile to paint. It worked. That concept has since led to Tirrell painting groups of toys in seemingly random piles and to a series of acrylic paintings of old tin toys. The tin toy paintings, in particular, often suggest a narrative, whether it’s a conversation between two tin birds in Tattletale, or a charming parade in Duck, Duck, Goose. Some are laugh-out-loud funny, and some are designed to make the viewer smile at the all too human foibles of the characters.
2014
Pastel 100, The Pastel Journal, Third Place, Still Life and Floral The 42nd Annual Open Juried Exhibition of the Pastel Society of America, Canson Excellence in Arts Award Northwest Pastel Society’s 28th Annual International Exhibition International Art Renewal Center Salon, 2013-14 Finalist
2013
Pastel 100, The Pastel Journal, Honorable Mention-Still Life and Floral The 41st Annual Open Juried Exhibition, Pastel Society of America, President's Award Peninsula Art League's 11th Annual Juried Exhibition, Jack Richeson award International Association of Pastel Societies, 22nd Juried Exhibition Northwest Pastel Society’s 27th Annual International Exhibition, Best of Show International Art Renewal Center Salon, 2012-13, Finalist Richeson 75 Small Works Show, First Place Richeson 75 Still Life & Floral Online Show
2012
Pastel 100, The Pastel Journal, Fifth Place-Still Life and Floral Pastel 100, The Pastel Journal, Honorable Mention-Animal & Wildlife Randy Higbee Gallery’s 6” Squared Show, Gallery Award The Artist’s Magazine, 29th Annual Art Competition Finalist The 40th Annual Open Juried Exhibition of the Pastel Society of America, Atlantic Papers Award The 20th Juried Exhibition of the International Association of Pastel Societies, City of Brea Art Gallery, Brea, CA Northwest Pastel Society’s 26th Annual International Exhibition “Pastels USA” International Exhibition, Pastel Society of the West Coast, 3rd Place
2011
Northwest Pastel Society’s 25th Annual International Exhibition, Past President’s Award Richeson 75 International - Animals, Birds and Wildlife Exhibit Peninsula Art League’s 9th Annual Open Art Exhibit 39th Annual Open Juried Exhibition, Pastel Society of America The Artist’s Magazine, 28th Annual Art Competition, Finalist “Pastels USA,” International Exhibition, Pastel Society of the West Coast, Terry Ludwig Award Northwest Pastel Society Members’ Exhibition, Best of Show
2010
Northwest Pastel Society’s 24th Annual International Exhibition, President’s Award Peninsula Art League’s 8th Annual Open Art Exhibit, First Place 38th Annual Open Juried Exhibition of the Pastel Society of America “Pastels USA,” International Exhibition, Pastel Society of the West Coast, Colorfin LCC Award Northwest Pastel Society Members’ Exhibition, Second Place, Miniature
2009
Pastel 100, The Pastel Journal, Honorable Mention, Animal & Wildlife Peninsula Art League’s 7th Annual Open Art Exhibit, Best of Show Northwest Pastel Society, 23rd Annual International Exhibition
“Kari Tirrell, Pastel 100/Third, Still Life & Floral”, The Pastel Journal, April, 2015. “Not your Grandmother’s Still Life” in Emerging Artists, Southwest Art, May 2014. https://www.southwestart.com/articles-interviews/emerging-artists/emerging-artists-kari-tirrell “Kari Tirrell, Pastel 100/Still Life & Floral”,The Pastel Journal, April, 2014. “Kari Tirrell, VL Cover Artist”, Visual Language Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 12, December, 2013: 3. "Kari Tirrell, Pastel 100/Animal & Wildlife”, Pastel Journal, April, 2013. The Artist’s Magazine, December, 2012. “The Still Life, Thirty Works on Display”, American Art Collector, No. 84, October, 2012: 150ff. “Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Invitational Group Show”, American Art Collector, No. 77, March, 2012: 144ff. The Artist’s Magazine, December, 2011 “Broad Sweep for a Young Gallery,” Bucks County Courier Times/The Intelligencer, August 1, 2010. “Artist Discovers True Colors”, The Peninsula Gateway, July 14, 2010. “Peninsula Art League Show” Gig Harbor Life, May 21, 2010. “Kari Tirrell, Pastel 100/Animal & Wildlife”, The Pastel Journal, April, 2010. “Art Celebrated at Civic Center”, The Peninsula Gateway, October 14, 2009.
AVAILABLE WORKS | |
 Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Kitty Kitty Bang Bang Acrylic on aluminum panel 30 x 24 inches Signed |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Fraud Acrylic on aluminum panel 12 x 12 inches Signed |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Illegal Alien Acrylic on aluminum panel 20 x 16 inches Signed |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Disturbing the Peace Acrylic on Artefex Panel 18 x 15 inches Signed |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) There Goes the Neighborhood Acrylic on aluminum panel 12 x 24 inches Signed |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Petty Theft Acrylic on aluminum panel 12 x 9 inches Signed |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Disorderly Conduct Acrylic on aluminum panel 24 x 18 inches Signed |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Traffic Jam Acrylic on aluminum panel 24 x 30 inches Signed |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Tin Menagerie Acrylic on aluminum panel 24 x 36 inches Signed | Sold Works |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Bird Call Acrylic and oil on panel 16 x 24 inches Signed |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) First Responders Acrylic on aluminum panel 30 x 40 inches Signed |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Peeping Tom Acrylic on board 12 x 9 inches Signed |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Attempted Murder Acrylic on board 16 x 24 inches Signed |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Chit Chat Acrylic on board 12 x 24 inches Signed |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Gossip Acrylic on board 12 x 24 inches Signed |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Slander Acrylic on board 12 x 24 inches Signed |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Fowl Play Acrylic on board 18 x 36 inches Signed |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Shell Game Acrylic on board 12 x 24 inches Signed |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Future Prince Acrylic on board 12 x 24 inches Signed |  Kari Tirrell (Born 1965) Tattletale Acrylic on board 18 x 24 inches Signed |
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