TIP TOLAND
FAIRY TALE
July 1–31
Traver Gallery is very proud to announce the opening of Fairy Tale by distinguished sculptor Tip Toland. Never one to shy away from delicate subjects, Toland once again boldly delivers with her new exhibition, Fairy Tale. Debuting a series of satirical and allegorical portraits, Toland alludes, with humor and angst, to today’s complex and consuming socio-political realities.
The exhibition, dominated by the looming, contorted face of a King, Toland immediately places the observer inside a fantastical narrative. The other characters sit beneath the king’s watchful gaze, including three sisters, each with pie in their face and each with a different expression of surprise and horror.
While compassion, empathy, and heartfelt concern for humanity are at the core of Toland’s work, humor and politics also play loudly here. However, because the faces are not representative of familiar figures, she leaves room for interpretation, asking us to construct a personal narrative, to write our own fairy tale. As always, Toland’s work is heartfelt and authentic, and it provokes us to reconsider the absurd and excessive reality in which we live.
Toland was born outside of Philadelphia and now lives in Vaughn, Washington. She received her MFA from Montana State University in 1981. She is a full-time studio artist and a part-time instructor in the Seattle area. In addition, she conducts workshops across the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally. In 2014 she had a one-woman exhibition at the Portland Art Museum. She has work in both private and public collections, including the Yellowstone Art Museum, the Archie Bray Foundation, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian, Kohler Art Center, Nelson Atkins Museum, The Museum of Art and Design, the Crocker Museum, the St Petersburg Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Toland has received numerous awards, most notably a United States Artist Award in 2014.
For additional information, please contact Traver Gallery at 206.587.6501 or info@travergallery.com