Bio

TAMARA KRENDEL received her BFA and MFA from The University of Pennsylvania and pursued independent post-graduate studies in Antwerp, Belgium* (*Painting independently, commuting to Brussels where she’d been granted permission to paint in King’s The Royal Glass Houses, and copying Jan van Eyck’s Madonna of the Fountain at The Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp.)

Other honors and awards include Fulbright and Belgian Ministry of Dutch Culture Grants to Belgium and full fellowships to YADDO and Yale University’s Yale-Norfolk program.

She has exhibited, given talks, demonstrations and presentations at various venues including: The Whistler House Museum, Fort Point Channel Community Gallery, The Concord Art Association, The Attleboro Arts Museum and Widner’s Art Museum, she spoke at Mass General’s Illuminations program where her greenhouse series was recently on display. She has curated eight exhibits since 2002.

Tamara has taught art for many years designing classes at various schools and colleges.

Her work has been widely reviewed and is in many private and public collections.

Noted critic Burton Wasserman wrote in a review for Art Matters, of her exhibit of paintings at the Widener University Art Museum:

“Krendel exercises considerable poetic license, freely transforming the shape of growing plants and botanical settings in which they’re found into oil and watercolor compositions rippling with light and patterns of excitement. Poetic transcriptions of her most naked perceptions, these pictures are not observations based on external realities as much as they are playful inventions, inspired composites of jewel-like incandescence, sparkling vitality and imaginative joy…”
Tamara Krendel Sketching in the Swamp

Résumé

Tamara Elizabeth Krendel

www.tamarakrendel.com
Tamarakrendel@aol.com
Member of Blue Mountain Gallery 
547 W 27th St. NYC

UPCOMING & CURRENT

The Maine Jewish Museum, (One-person show) The Fineberg Family Community Room
March 1- May 1st, 2026, Opening reception, Thursday: March 5th

The Rhode Island Watercolor Society’s National Juried Show, “Simply Watercolor” 
Nov 9th – Dec 13th ‘24 Juror: Soon Y Warren, Opening reception Nov. 16th

EDUCATION, HONORS & AWARDS

RIWS 2023 National Juried all-medium Exhibition, “Into the Blue”, Juror: Shannon Ferrari, 
Second Prize, December 16th – January 19th

RIWS 2022 National Juried all-medium Exhibition, First Prize -, Juror: Linnea Toney Leeming,
The Rhode Island Watercolor Society, October 22- November 18th 2022

RIWS 2022 National Watermedia Exhibition, Honorable Mention -, Juror: Irena Roman, 
The Rhode Island Watercolor Society, June 4th – July 16, 2022

Drawing Challenge XXl , Featured Artist -, Jason McCoy Gallery NYC, New York, May 5- 31, 2021

It’s All About Color – Third Prize: Juror: Sam Allerton Green, 
Rhode Island Watercolor Society, May 2020

Winner of Curatorial competition, (jurior Meredyth Hyatt Moses,) for exhibit Winged & Whispered, 
Fort Point Arts Community Gallery, April-May 2006

The Royal Academy of Fine Arts 325th Commemorative Juried Show & David Teniers Prize Competition, Antwerp, Belgium, 1989

ZEBRA, (Designated Guest Artist), Copenhagen, Denmark, 1987

The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium, Independent Post-Graduate Studies, 
Painting, September 1980-July 1981

The University of Pennsylvania, MFA, 1979, BFA, 1977

Fulbright Grant, Independent study in Belgium, 1980-1981

Belgian Ministry of Dutch Culture Grant, Independent Study in Belgium, 1980-1981
(Invitation to renew).

Yaddo Residency, (NEA and New York Council for the Arts), 1979

Skowhegan Summer School of Painting and Sculpture, 1978

Yale-Norfolk, Yale University Summer School of Music & Art, full fellowship 1976

Swarthmore Library Award for Excellence in English, 1971

ONE & TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS

The Maine Jewish Museum, (One-person show),The Fineberg Family Community Room March 1- May 1st, 2026, Opening reception, Thursday: March 5th

The Station Gallery, Anne Oldach & Tamara Krendel (Two-Person Show), Greenville, DE, October 7 – 29, 2016

Illuminations, October 2012, Mass General Hospital, Mass General Illuminations Gallery

Henderson Hall Gallery, “Light in Shadow” (One-Person show) Middlesex Community College, Bedford, MA, 2008.

Soprafina Gallery, “Inside Out” Elizabeth Awalt & Tamara Krendel (Two-Person Show), Somerville, MA, 2003

The Andover Historical Society, “Inspired by Nature,” (one-person show), 2002, Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, satellite gallery (One-Person Show), Wilmington, DE, 1996.

Arthur Hoyt Scott Foundation, (One-Person Show), Swarthmore College, PA 1990.

The Arnold Arboretum, (One-Person Show), Boston, MA.,1989 and 1985.

The Lane Art Gallery, (One-Person Show), Gordon College, Wenham, MA 1988.

The Cosmos Club, (One-Person Show), Washington, DC, 1986.

The Widener University Art Museum, (Two-Person Show), Chester, PA,1987.

The Cosmos Club, (One-Person Show), Washington, DC, 1986.

Faculty Club of the University of Pennsylvania of PA, (Two-Person Show),1985.

The Belgian Fulbright Commission, (One-Person Show), Antwerp, Belgium, 1982.

The Station Gallery, (Two Person Show), Wilmington, DE, 1980

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

RIWS National Juried Show, “Simply Watercolor” Juror: Soon Y Warren, Nov 9th – Dec 13th 2024

Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water -Blue Mountain Gallery at Marblehead 
Aug 10 – Sept 21st, 2024, The Marblehead Art Association

The Rhode Island Watercolor Society’s National Juried Show, “Primary Colors” 2024
Juror: Arnie Casavant , July 27th – Aug 30th

RIWS National Juried Show, “Blossoms”, Juror: Bill Lane, 
The Rhode Island Watercolor Society : April 20th – May 24th, 2024

Time & Space Limited, “A Fly on The Canvas”, curated by Harryet Candee 
434 Columbia Street, Hudson, New York, April 13th – May 11th, 2024

RIWS National Juried Show, “Pattern and Abstraction”
Juror: Linnea Toney Leeming Exhibition Dates: February 17th – March 22nd, 2024

The Blue Mountain Gallery Winter Juried Show/ juror: Don Kimes, 547 W 27th St. NYC, 1/ 1 -27, 2024

RIWS 2023 National Juried all-medium Exhibition, (Second Prize), “Into the Blue”, 
Juror: Shannon Ferrari, Dec. 16th – Jan. 19th

RIWS 2023 National Juried all-medium Exhibition, ‘Amazing Space’, Juror: Mark Fernandez 
August 5th – September 1, 2023

The Mirror Blue Night, The Undercroft Gallery, curator: Patrick Neal, 1085 Fifth Ave. New York, NY, 
Sept. 5 – Oct. 29th

RIWS 2023 National Juried all-medium Exhibition, “Lines”, Jurors: Karen Harris & Lois Harada, 
July 8th– August 3rd, Opening reception: July 8th 1

RIWS 2023 National Juried all-medium Exhibition, ‘Nature’s Patterns’, Juror: Susan Aitcheson, 
online exhibit, June 24th- July 28th

Small Works Invitational, Once in A Blue Moon, The Blue Mountain Gallery, 547 W 27th St. New York, NY, August 1 -19, 2023. Opening reception: Thursday, August 3rd, 5-8 PM

RIWS 2023 National Juried Watermedia Exhibition, Juror: Judy Metcalf, 
The Rhode Island Watercolor Society, May 13 -June 23rd, 2023

RIWS 2023 National Juried Exhibition, “The Limited Palette” Juror: June Webster
The Rhode Island Watercolor Society, April 29th – May 26th, 2023

Above Us Only Sky ll, Curator: Erica Adams, Brickbottom Gallery, March 2 – April 1, 2023

RIWS 2023 National Juried all-medium Exhibition, ’Spring Break’, Juror: Kris Occhino, 
The Rhode Island Watercolor Society, February 25 – March 24 2023

RIWS 2023 National Juried all-medium Exhibition, ’Winter Blues’ Juror: Yvonne Hemingway, 
The Rhode Island Watercolor Society, January 21 – February 24, 2023

RIWS 2022 National Juried all-medium Exhibition, First Prize -Juror: Linnea Toney Leeming, 
The Rhode Island Watercolor Society, October 22- November 18th 2022

RIWS 2022 National Watermedia Exhibition, Honorable Mention -, Juror: Irena Roman, 
The Rhode Island Watercolor Society, June 4th – July 16, 2022

Above Us Only Sky, curator: Erica Adams, The Atrium Gallery, Moakley Courthouse, Boston, MA 
April 1 -June 30, 2022

Celebrating Color: Juror: Judy Vilmain, Rhode Island Watercolor Society, Jan. 22nd-Feb. 25, 2022

Marking Lives Covid 19, Organizer: Elizabeth Awalt, The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 
Cambridge, MA, Sept 27 – Nov 19, 2021

Drawing Challenge XXl , Featured Artist -, Jason McCoy Gallery NYC, New York, May 5- 31, 2021

Drawing Challenge XX, Jason McCoy Gallery, New York, New York, April 7th -30, 2021

Drawing Challenge XVll Jason McCoy Gallery,57th St., New York, New York, Jan. 7th-31st. 2021

RED, 2020, Cambridge Art Association, Nov 4 – Dec17, 2020, Juror: Layla Bermeo, Kristin and Roger 
Servison Associate Curator of American Paintings, Boston MFA, Nov 4 – Dec 17, 2020

Beyond Likeness –Juror: Amy Sudarsky, The Rocky Neck Cultural Center, 
Gloucester MA, June – July 2020

It’s All About Color – Prizewinner: Juror: Sam Allerton Green, Rhode Island Watercolor Society, 
May 2020

Out of Place – International Juried show, Fountain Street Gallery: Juror: Jameson Johnson 
Fountain Street Gallery, 460 Harrison Avenue, Nov. 2019-Feb. 2020

MCC Celebration of Art and Music, Lowell Center for the Performing Arts, April-May 2019

RED, CAA, University Place Gallery, Nov. 2018 – Jan. 2019

The Chandler Gallery, Small Works Salon 2016: “Thesis / Antithesis”; (Juror: Gerry Bergstein)
Maud Morgan Center for the Arts, Cambridge MA, (March 21 – April 21, ’16)

Wicked, 2014, (Jurors: Hope Turner & Zola Solamente), 
Fountain St. Fine Art Gallery, Framingham, MA. Jan.30 -March 2, 2014

Animals Dreamed & Dreaming, The Concord Art Association, Oct. – Nov. 2013

Illuminations, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Care Center, Oct. 2012-Jan 2013 

Cat Show (Come to Mama!), The Knight Campus Gallery, Warwick, Rhode Island, 
(curator: Viera Levitt), April 3 – April 24, 2012 

For the Birds, The Brush Gallery, Lowell, MA (Juror: David Allen Sibley) 
May 7 – June 18, 2011

Art and About, The Essex Art Center, Lawrence, MA. Oct. 23 -Dec. 4. 2009 

Herding Cats, The Brush Gallery, Lowell, MA, (Juror: Erica H. Adams), 
Sept 24 – Oct 25, 2009

Home is Where the Art Is Children’s Hospital’s Kent Street Project; 
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, Artists Reception, March 26, 2009 

Insecta Poetica, The Essex Art Center, Lawrence, MA. March -May 1. 2009 

Order Insecta, The Concord Art Association, Concord MA. June-Aug. 2008

Out of the Blue, Attleboro Arts Museum, (national juried competition, 
Juror: Jennifer Wood-Patrick), Attleboro, MA. July 2008 

Winged & Whispered, The Fort Point Arts Community Gallery, 
(juried competition, Juror Meredyth Hyatt Moses,) for April-May 2006.

RED, University Place Gallery, (Juror, Nick Capasso), Nov. 2005 – Jan. 2006 

Dreaming the Light/Unfolding the Dark, The Concord Art Association, Concord, MA. Dec. ‘05 Juried Holiday Show, Bromfield Gallery, Boston, MA 2004, 2005 

Finned and Feathered, The Essex Art Center, MA 2004

Francis N. Roddy Competition, The Concord Art Association; 2003, 2004 
(Juror: John Moore 2003; Juror: Rachel Rosenfield Lafo 2004), Concord, MA

The Essex Art Center’s 10th Annual Juried Show, 2003 (Juror: Jock Reynolds)

Penn MFA Alumni Exhibition; Kroiz Gallery, Phila. PA, 2003 
(Jurors: Bridgette Mayer, Alex Baker, John Moore)

Fresh Paint, The Essex Art Center, Lawrence MA, (Invitational Paint in a day Auction Benefit.)
2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

A Show of Art by Women Artists. The Essex Art Center, Lawrence, MA, 2000,2002,2004.

Whistler House Museum of Art, Lowell, MA. 2001(A Show of Art by Women Artists), Hardcastle Gallery, Centreville, DE, Dec.1999 through Nov. 2000, (5 Group Exhibitions)

The Royal Academy of Fine Arts 325th Commemorative Juried Show 
& David Teniers Prize Competition, Antwerp, Belgium, 1989

ZEBRA, (Designated Guest Artist), Copenhagen, Denmark, 1987

Cheltenham Art Center Annual Award Painting Exhibit, PA,1986 (Juror, Grace Glueck)

Small Works USA, Gallery 401, Providence, R.I., 1985

Woodmere Art Gallery Annual Juried Exhibition, Chestnut Hill, PA, 1982, 1985

The Boston Center for The Arts Annual Drawing Show, Boston, MA, 1983

The American Watercolor Society Annual Juried Exhibition, N.Y., N.Y 1980

TEACHING: ARTIST TALKS, PANEL DISCUSSIONS, WORKSHOPS

Concord Art Association, Designed, Lead & participated in Panel Discussion Group with exhibiting artists: “Behind the Scenes; What makes an Artist who devotes their entire life to their art -Tick: & Why” held in conjunction with her curated exhibit: Animals: Dreamed and Dreaming , 2013.

Illuminations, Opening Reception, Artist’s Remarks, October 23rd 2012, Mass General Hospital

Middlesex Community College: Instructor; (Painting 1 & 2, Drawing 1 & 2 & Independent Studies) 2008-2021

Cambridge College: Instructor; Introduction to Studio Arts, 2006, & Artist as Teacher, (2007-2008)

The Essex Art Center: designed & taught observational drawing &painting class for adults, (2009).

The Andover School of Montessori, designed and taught extensive arts program for kindergarten students. Andover, (1998-2000).

Recipient of an after-school grant to design and teach after-school art club at The Andover School of Montessori (Spring, 2000).

The Concord Art Association, Concord, “Order Insecta,” Artist’s Gallery Talk, ‘08

Henderson Hall Gallery, MCC Bedford “Light in Shadow” solo exhibit, Artist Gallery Talk, 2008.

The Andover Artists Guild, Guest Artist; Artist’s talk, slide presentation & master class, 2006.

The Andover Historical Society, “Inspired by Nature,” Artist’s talk and slide presentation, 2002.

The Whistler House Museum of Art, “Recurring Themes in My Work,” Artist’s talk & slide presentation, 2001

CURATING

Animals: Dreamed & Dreaming, The Concord Art Association, Concord, MA, Oct 19–Nov 24, 2013

Insecta Poetica, The Essex Art Center, Lawrence, MA. March–May 1, 2009

Order Insecta, The Concord Art Association, Concord MA, June–Aug 2, 2008.

Winged & Whispered, The Fort Point Arts Community Gallery, (juried competition, juror, Meredyth Hyatt Moses) April–May 2006.

Dreaming The Light/Unfolding The Dark, The Concord Art Association, Concord, MA. Dec. 2005.

Finned & Feathered, The Essex Art Center, 2004.

PRESS & REVIEWS

Alicia Faxon. “Animals: Dreamed & Dreaming,“ Art New England, January/February 2014

Cate McQuaid, exhibition tips, The Boston Globe, Oct. 24, 2013

Cate McQuaid, “Critters large and small – and no need for bug spray,” The Boston Sunday Globe, July 20, 2008

Kate Farrington, “Local Poetics, Winged & Whispered,” Art New England, August / September 2006.

“dig this”, Boston’s Weekly Dig, April 19, 2006.

Meredith Goldstein, “Quick Picks”, The Boston Globe, Dec. 9, 2005.

Meredith Fife Day, “Finned & Feathered”, Art New England, Aug/Sept 2004.

Christine Temin, “Critic’s Pick”, The Boston Sunday Globe, March 14, 2004.

Featured on “Write Now”, by Gayle Heney, Haverhill Public Television, May 2004.

Jan Hale, “Noted Massachusetts Artist Paints Pictures of Greenhouse Interiors,” Hobby Greenhouse, vol. 11, no 2, 1989.

Burton Wasserman, “Exhibitions in Sight,” Art Matters, vol. 6, no. 9, 1987.

Victoria Donohoe, “In Cheltenham, A Youthful Show at Middle Age,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 1, 1986.

Christine Temin, “Critic’s Tip,” The Boston Globe, August 8, 1985.

Robert Taylor, “Critic’s Choice,” The Boston Globe, May 10, 1985.

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

The Greenhouse Group, Manchester, New Hampshire

Kent Street House Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA Enterprise Bank, Andover, MA

Enterprise Bank, Lowell, MA

Offices of Louis F. Rose & Associates, Philadelphia, PA

Wills Eye Institute, Private Office, Philadelphia, PA

Yale’s Summer School of Music and Art, Norfolk, CT

Corporation of Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY

Massachusetts General Hospital

Statement0

August 3, 2024
Self Portrait by Tamara Krendel

I’ve painted for as long as I can remember.

I received my BFA and my MFA degrees in Painting from the University of Pennsylvania in 1977 and 1979, with a fellowship to Yale-Norfolk in 1976, and a fellowship at Yaddo in 1979.   During 1980 and 1981 under grants from the Fulbright Commission and from the Belgian Ministry of Dutch Culture I pursued a post-graduate program in Northern Renaissance painting techniques and independent studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium, in Northern Renaissance painting techniques and in independent studies, through grants from the Fulbright Commission and The Belgian Ministry of Dutch Culture.

The Northern Renaissance was of interest to me because of their unique way of translating what they saw. They painted from direct observation using their eyes to find their own personal perspective and forms. Their people look like real people, and their sense of space was more intimate and intuitive as opposed to the Southern Renaissance where an idealized human form and a mathematical perspective was held up as a standard to strive for. 

Additionally in the North the light was rarer, therefore moments of light were more strongly felt, more personal. Colors are often more intense and the light more intimate. I was interested in the Northern Renaissance’s unique light and atmosphere, particularly as depicted by the Belgian painter Jan Van Eyck. Religious painting was no longer purely devotional and now included views of the natural world purely for visual pleasure. There was a religious and spiritual intensity behind Van Eyck’s paintings which made every detail important; everything seen by God was good.

View from Hadrian’s Wall, oil pastel on paper, 2005

In my work I have always been interested in reality as it is perceived and felt directly through seeing. I am interested in how light and color discovered through direct observation uncovers and inspires the spirit and poetry in observed reality- how light and color transforms what you see and the serendipitous  poetry that occurs in the process 

I painted for many years on location from direct observation, choosing a subject that intrigued me, and a period of light that evoked the particular spirit of that subject. As things grew and changed with the light over time, the structural variables within the painting changed in new and exciting ways, establishing a dialogue between the painting and the perceived reality where imagination, instinct and the unconscious could come into play. In this way I felt I was able to get closer to the mysterious spirit and poetry of light and place.

Light on Mountains and Trees Across The Lake,
8″ by 12″, oil pastel, 2005

More recently I have been composing paintings from a compilation of imagery; studies, sketches, photographs etc. This change in approach hasn’t altered my work’s “feel” because when I painted observationally “on location” I wasn’t recording an objective reality, but was seeking subjects that triggered me imaginatively. 

I identify my artwork as “poetic realism,” artwork that conveys a sense of magic, mystery and/or transcendence that brings to mind visual poetry. There is a kind of poetry in the ordering and revealing of seen and unseen worlds through visual expression and in the creating of personal windows that open to and/or illuminate private and universal realities. 

Closeup of Tamara, taken by Ezra S. Krendel,
Feb. 27, 2004, Opening of Finned & Feathered 

While my work has undergone various changes of style and medium over the years, certain forms have continued to interest me. One form which has occurred in my still-life paintings on and off for the past thirty years, and which epitomizes an elusive  ineffable quality that is the  quintessence and ultimate subject in  all of my work,  is a small fishbowl containing a magic clam.

Magic clams are clamshells filled with a system of paper flowers, leaves and small paper floats that are closed, then sealed with a simple strip of paper. The paper dissolves slowly in a glass of water and the shell opens revealing a red paper flower. It appears as if by magic.

When I was a child my mother used these magic clams as party favors. I can still vividly remember believing that they were magic.  It is that unique time in childhood when there is magic that these paintings evoke, celebrate, or simply stand in as a beacon or a muse. A period where all is possible and every child is an artist. And for those transcendent moments in the imagination and during the creative process, when one feels that ineffable sense of magic and mystery.

– Tamara Elizabeth Krendel