Featured Artists

Tamara Natalie Madden was born in Jamaica and came to America as a teenager. While battling a life-threatening kidney disease as a young woman, she turned to painting as a lifeline. After receiving a kidney transplant from her brother in 2001, she decided to pursue painting wholeheartedly. Tamara paints in remembrance of everyday survivors. Her work is heavily influenced by her vivid memories of growing up in rural Jamaica. Some of the specific influential memories that appear in her work are those of the working class; the stern elders; the dutiful children. Women appear frequently in domestic situations: care-taking, manufacturing, protecting and sharing wisdom with youth. Her creative expansion, however, has allowed Tamara to incorporate elements of religiosity including pieces that focus on the study of the human figure and black female/male spirituality and love.