Tancha Dirickson was born in Brazil. Although she was brought up in a family that supported creative endeavors through patronage and the collecting of contemporary Brazilian artwork, it was after a career in the field of biomedicine and public health that she finally realized that making art was what made her most fulfilled.
At first she made art in her spare time on the patio of her retail gallery in Carmel, California while attending art classes at Monterey Peninsula College. Tancha learned soon enough that to make art is to be serious about the whole process, from the execution of the creative idea to exhibition of the finished piece.
Many of her pieces have been exhibited in a number of group shows throughout the United States. Since moving to the Okanagan a few years ago, she has had some individual exhibitions of her monoprints and paintings which reveal a coherent body of work. She is currently exploring the idea of luminescence. She believes that all of us are born with the capacity to bring light to the world around us. In spite of the pain and the absurdity of the human condition, her outlook on life is optimistic; hence the bright and warm colors in her work.
Beyond her studio work, Tancha is known for her conceptual installation art where she makes commentary about the preservation of agricultural land and the environment. She was the runner up for two consecutive years at Penticton’s Roundabout Public Art Competition in 2006 and 2007. Her latest installation, “Ascension”, was shown at Penticton Art Gallery’s exhibition “Defining Place” early in 2008.
