EVENTS
INSTAGRAM LIVE CHAT¬
Artist Spencer Tinkham.
Join Heather Hakimzadeh, Curator, for a conversation with past and current Virginia MOCA exhibiting artists. Guest artists will give us a look inside their studios, share current projects, and discuss process and inspiration.
This month’s guest is Spencer Tinkham, June Atrium Artist in Residence. Tinkham’s work will be on view at the Virginia MOCA Fleming Gallery as part of the Atrium Artists in Residence Exhibition.
Spencer Tinkham is an artist and woodworker working and living in Norfolk, Virginia. At the age of eight a simple pocketknife, given to him by his grandfather, launched both his passion for creating and his future as an artist. Before Spencer graduated high school, he had already twice-won the Danner Frazer Youth Decorative Wildfowl World Championship.
Spencer has no formal art training and is entirely self-taught. He continues to use primitive tools and mixes his oil paints from pigment powders. Most of his sculptures are still made out of found materials and are wildlife focused. Spencer’s sculptures draw influence from literature, folk art, Modern art, and contemporary art. Spencer is intrigued by the repetition of human behavior over history and uses animal sculpture to help people ponder their impact on the environment and each other.
Most recently, Spencer was inducted into the National Sculpture Society as an Associate Member. Almost Ate It was juried into the prestigious Leigh Yawkey Woodson Birds in Art 2020 museum exhibition. He has work in the Dollar Tree, Inc. corporate art collection, and has sent his sculptures to many private art collections worldwide.