ARTIST BIO

Tanya Tull is a Los Angeles-based artist and social entrepreneur, who studied with Phil Dike, Jean Goodwin Ames, Paul Darrow, and Douglas McCellan at the Claremont Colleges (BFA, Scripps College, 1964). Married and raising three children in the 1970s, her life took a sharp turn in 1980, after reading an article in the LA Times about children living in Skid Row hotels. Within weeks she had incorporated a nonprofit organization, Para Los Niños (For the Children), intending to work for a year as a volunteer to see it open. At the same time, the new arts community in Downtown LA had begun to take hold as artists moved into studio lofts in converted warehouses. Tanya subleased a large art studio nearby and began painting on weekends, while leading Para Los Niños during the week. Unable to turn away from the crisis on the streets, she co-founded LA Family Housing in 1983 and later founded A Community of Friends and Beyond Shelter in 1988. Tanya firmly believes that it was her ability to “color outside the lines” that enabled her to apply her creative skills to address complex social problems. She compares it to an abstract painting that isn’t resolved but has the elements to envision in a new way. Today, she is painting prolifically full-time. Her work is replete with riotous color, shapes that keep changing as each piece evolves – and with layers of underpainting often showing through.