Eugene artist showcases her work at Whipple Fine Arts

By Barb Stephens · The Mainstream
Published October 20, 2009

Artist Tallmadge Doyle, a Eugene native, opened her show “Celestial Menagerie” at the Whipple Fine Arts Gallery, Thursday, Oct. 15.

The “Celestial Menagerie” is an art collection created in the medium of etching, a form of print making.

“I started out working in metal and then stumbled across etching and print making, and I just sort of fell in love with it. I love working the copper; it’s a really soft metal, and you can scrape it, and make all kinds of marks in it and textures in it, and etch it and roll ink on it and it’s fun; it’s very experimental,” said Doyle.

The inspiration behind Doyle’s work revolves around the disciplines of history and science.

“There always seems to be a theme of history and science that influences my work. This work spans four or five years, and some of the first pieces were inspired by some of the Renaissance scientists during the Renaissance when there were so many interesting and new scientific discoveries made. I’ve been sort of inspired by that and the lives of these scientists. They really broke a lot of new ground, and they also had to fight the prevailing church at the time, the Roman Catholic Church. All the trials and tribulations they went through -- it was very interesting learning about the history of the period, very inspirational to me,” said Doyle.

For aspiring artists, Doyle suggests, “I think it’s always important to have different things that you can do to make an income for yourself, things that you can do that allow you to make money and allow you to do art. I’ve heard this rule and I think this is true – it’s always good to have at least two other ways to make money besides art. So you can keep on making art, that is if you want to do purely fine art, of course, and I would say try and get yourself in a position where you don’t have to depend on making money from art, but if you do that’s great, but if you count on it, it’s very difficult. And I’m not saying you can’t make money from doing art, but always have something to fall back on.”

Doyle attended the Cleveland Art Institute promptly after graduating high school where she earned a degree in drawing. Ten years after graduating from the Cleveland Art Institute, Doyle applied to the University of Oregon and earned a Masters in Fine Arts.

Doyle has also taught at the Sitka Center north of Lincoln City.

“Celestial Menagerie” is scheduled to remain open until Oct. 30.

The Art Gallery is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., or by appointment. The Art Gallery often remains open when there are events at Center Stage Theater. For More information, call 541.440.4692.