Tip Toland is a full-time studio artist and a part-time instructor in Seattle. In addition, she conducts workshops across the United States, Europe and the Middle East. She will be creating similar pieces to her recent ‘Echo’ work at the Festival. She says: “With a few exceptions, each figure I make is a stand-in for an aspect of me, making my work largely auto-biographical. I begin by sketching thumbnail drawings without any editing. It is when I revisit the drawings later and notice the figures which hold energy for me that I begin to flesh them out. Many details come to the foreground as the piece evolves. However the emotional, psychological make-up of the character is evident from the beginning. Although they originate as an aspect of me, over the process of being made they seem to take on their own sense of self, pointing me in the direction of how they want to become.” www.tiptoland.com
