Tam Zawalich is an artist and illustrator living and working in Seattle Washington; a native of Seattle, her work has always been inspired by the sometimes gloomy and overgrown aspects of nature and life in the Pacific Northwest. She takes a mixed media approach to creating work, but primarily uses oils to create moody and sometimes uncomfortable paintings with a focus on the contrast of the tangible characteristics of the human body with the fragility of the natural world, finding beauty and growth out of decay.
Her interest in art began very young, and continued as a hobby throughout middle and high school - she decided to become more serious in her practice and started school at Cornish College of the Arts at 17. In 2011 she was accepted to study abroad at the Glasgow School of Art in Glasgow, Scotland, where she narrowed down her focus and in 2012 received a BFA in painting and printmaking from Cornish. In 2013 she was certified in Scientific Illustration at the University of Washington. After graduating from Cornish she took an interest in teaching, and began instructing small community drawing classes in Seattle, as well as larger group painting classes. Her hope is to make art, especially fine art, more open and accessible and enjoyable for those without an educational background in art. She has had work displayed at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center as well as the Burke Museum of Natural History, both in Seattle Washington.
