Tamsen Fox is an eclectic multimedia fine artist, born in Hawaii, Fox has enjoyed a life-long passion for artistic expression. While attending the University of Arizona she studied with the noted photographer Ansel Adams at the Spectrum Gallery in Tucson. She went on to receive her BFA from California College of the Arts in Oakland, CA graduating with honors Class ‘79.

Fox has progressively expanded her range of interests with varied applications. She is a multi-media artist whose current work includes gourd art, watercolor, silk painting, metal art, feather art, and acrylics. Animals, Hawaiian designs, Amerindian imagery, musical instruments, spirit masks, and mystical archetypes are just a few of the subjects Fox recreates in her art. She has also published one Limited Edition lithograph print (from a silk original) called “Ring of Fire” that depicts elders, sitting around a mesa fire, passing on tribal lore to younger warriors. This painting was featured in Southwest Art Magazine and can be seen on the “paintings” page on this website.

Much of Fox’s gourd work is infused with the ancient Native American traditions of applying pine needles, shells, leather, feathers, bone, semi-precious stones, crystals, beads, sand, and a great variety of other natural products as embellishments. Special techniques used in her gourd art are pyro-engraving, painting, dying, engraving, inlay work, and etching.

Fox’s work can be found in a variety of publications, galleries, and private collections. Her paintings have been publicized in national and regional magazines (such as Southwest Art and Surface Design Magazine) as well as on the web. Her art is represented in numerous galleries in California, Hawaii, Sedona, AZ, Florida, and New Mexico.

Fox has been gratified by the acquisition of her work by many collectors such as Robert Redford (in his private collection as well as the Sundance Catalogue), native American artist the late R. C. Gorman, and Queen Elizabeth II to name a few.

She has been retained by a number of corporate clients. As an example, Nordstrom Department Store carried her original hand-
painted “wearable art.” This high-end silk clothing line was exclusive to Nordstrom stores in northern California.

One of the highlights has been her standing invitation to participate in the ongoing renowned Indian Canyon Storytelling Festival in California (1995-2004) in recognition of her outstanding artistic contribution to Native American culture. This is an outgrowth of her commitment to commemorate and preserve significant traditions intrinsic to Native American visual arts. Fox has also been an honored guest artist for the International Whole Earth Expo in San Francisco.

“I am constantly amazed not only by the joy derived from this creative art process, but also witnessing the spiritual journey from perception to creation. My work is a very personal rite,” she explains. “My work is an intimate, heartfelt expression of my feelings based on my own life experiences and my own story. My intent is to create an experience which impacts the collector with a sense of tranquility, beauty and balance. My job is to give the spirit behind my creation the magic to carry it through to its recipient.”