Dolores Tema Paintings

Dolores Tema was born in the Bronx in 1942. Tema studied design at Parsons School of Design and further continued her studies at Hunter College. She then worked as a graphic designer for Shell Oil and City Bank, both in New York City. After moving to Connecticut, she continued her study in visual art at Wesleyan University in Middletown and also spent a summer at Istituto Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence. Tema works full time teaching art in a Jesuit high school in Fairfield and also finds time to produce works in watercolor and various print mediums. Many of her pieces begin as sketches made on location around her home and while traveling. Her love of working on location adds to the vitality and life in her work. Tema says, “Art is an exploration of self as determined by the world around us. While we are anchored in time and space, art acts to bring us beyond the ordinary, to capture what can ultimately be defined as truth. I think anyone who involves himself in this process experiences that place that defies time and space and where the journey begins. My journey began as a child, observing my surroundings and those around me. I have always translated these observations in drawings, paintings and even small objects built. My current work involves the tension between that which we know and that which is felt. This tension is realized as colors come together and merge into each other to become whole. I hope to achieve a kind of movement, dance and balance in the work through the use of shape, color and form."