Tacoma's Art at Work Month!-Some Q&A with artist Lorraine Toler

On November 6th and 7th from 10am-4pm, studios and artist are opening their spaces up to the public for Tacoma's Art at Work, featuring forty-four locations throughout Tacoma.

City Arts spoke with some of the artists participating in this exhibition to give you a taste of what's in store. 

Primary artistic medium/media: Acrylic and acrylic gels.

Studio street address: 1202 N Oakes.

Which art items that you sell, do you think would fit in a City Arts December gift guide (designed to promote local artists)? I have some small posters of my work at an affordable price point.

What you’re working on now: I am painting a memory of my mother, Okchun Kim and her oldest friend that she knew from Korea. Both women escaped North Korea as children and became friends as teenage refugees. They both married American service men. My mother married Mr.Toler and her friend married Mr. Kohler. The women blossomed from children, into mothers, into grandmothers. They stayed friends during their lives. Each experience they had mirrored each others.

Most dangerous tool in your studio: A hand saw, I am attempting to teach myself how to miter corners and hoping not to cut any digits off.

Weirdest material(s) you’re currently working with: A liquid acrylic that when dry, pulls ink from paper. Do you remember taking photos from the newspaper with Silly Putty as a kid? It is like that. It is also like glue - if you spread glue all over your hand, let it dry, then peel it back to see a transparent surface. I often incorporate images into my canvas this way.

Mental health “drug” of choice: Nothing inspires creativity better for me than Diet Coke and Swedish Fish. I have tried to give it up, but I have that delicious monkey on my back.

Favorite part about your studio space: My studio is also my home. It is a quirky space because was formerly the neighborhood corner store that has been converted. I have very high ceilings and great light. There are still people who live in the neighborhood who have fond memories of it being a store.

Least favorite part about your studio space: Sometimes I long for separate working space or a bigger space to delineate purpose.

Your favorite completed work: Through my work, I am attempting to tell the story of my mother Okchun Kim, who fled North Korea at the age of 12 with her 10 year-old brother.  My mother escaped with no photos and only the clothes on her back.  My paintings are my gift to her and to others with similar experiences by giving images to the many forgotten stories. This painting is titled "Line Up,"  The older gentleman in the foreground, represents my mother's uncle. Her family had a farm that was taken over during the Japanese occupation before WWII. There orange ovals represent being forced to line up for inspection, conscription and to turn over food. While my family members were able to grow rice, they were often not allowed to have any, since the harvest had to be turned over to the Japanese. Instead, millet was doled out to many Koreans. The orange ovals also are literal representations of the meager amounts of millet.

Read more about Lorraine Toler and check in on the City Arts Blog for more interviews with Tacoma artists all this week.