ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Naomi Tamura is a visual artist based in Mill Valley, California, working primarily in acrylic paint, drawing media, and an emerging fiber-art practice. Her work is rooted in representation but resists being confined by it, embracing a wide range of subjects approached with an open and intuitive sensibility.

Drawing has been a lifelong practice for Tamura, beginning in early childhood and continuing through her formal education. She earned a degree in Studio Art from Scripps College in Claremont, California, and subsequently studied graphic design and art direction at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. This training led to a 20-year career as a graphic designer and art director in both agency and in-house roles. In 2011, she stepped away from design to care for her family after the loss of her son, and subsequently returned more fully to her roots in fine art.

Tamura’s fine-art practice reflects a synthesis of her life experiences and artistic influences, including the Bay Area Figurative Movement, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Modernism, Postmodernism, and Abstract Expressionism. Her process is one of intuitive transformation, layering expressive brushstrokes and gestural marks that prioritize emotion over precision.

Alongside painting and drawing, Tamura is developing a fiber-art practice that brings her longstanding love of knitting and crocheting into conversation with her fine-art background. Centered currently on collaboration, this work offers opportunities to engage with other artists, explore new approaches to material and form, and move beyond an individual point of view. Collaboration feeds her desire for community and connection while continually challenging her to think outside herself.

In her paintings, drawings, and fiber work, Tamura strives to create compositions that are both resonant and direct, works that convey meaning through color, movement, material, and atmosphere, offering viewers a space for connection, reflection, and emotional depth.