About Tara Shorey

"More than the specifics of her art; what stays etched with me regarding Ms. Tara Shorey, is the amazing human spirit she embodies. I have seen her bring compassion into her artistry, as well as into her human interactions. She exemplifies commitment to quality in her art and within her relationships. The translation of the fine woman she is becomes even more obvious over time and distance - again, as her art speaks to - she is a woman of heART. Her work within the Institute of Indigenous Arts , as student, apprentice, and now, as Teacher - conveys a since of beauty and originality that is a model for new students and an inspiration to her colleagues." ~ Sahn Nicole Hill/Senior Designer IIA/SMI,int.

Tara Shorey grew up among the rugged beauty of Coastal Maine, sculpting mermaids in the sand and selling wild-crafted treasures from door to door. After spending several years studying massage therapy and healing arts, Tara launched her integrative bodywork practice Sculpting Bodies to Wellness in 1997.

Tara's work was featured in the Winter 2009 issue of Conscious Dancer magazine

In 1998 Tara moved to California to realize a long held dream of studying art and dance. Earlier that year, Tara had discovered Gabrielle Roth’s 5Rhythms™ movement practice, and so she headed north of San Francisco to the Moving Center School in Mill Valley where she devoted herself to the practice. At the same time time, Tara immersed herself in an interdisciplinary fine arts program at the College of Marin. In 2003, Tara’s art career began to take off and she enjoyed her first success showing her work on beautiful painted silks.

In 2004, Tara began apprenticing with the acclaimed painter, Dario Campanille. In the four years she spent as his understudy, her work shifted from inspirational silk paintings to contemporary abstract canvases . Abstraction held great freedom for Tara and she continued to evolve as an artist, pioneering an approach to her canvas that wove together influences from her spiritual practice, dance, and her study of living paintings. The results ultimately underpin all her subsequent work.

With her exploration of movement and visual expression well underway, Tara also wanted to experience the richness of theater and attended Studio ACT in San Francisco to develop her strength as a performance artist. Having gained an appreciation for the transformative power of theater while at the Studio, Tara sought to blend this experience with prayer, movement, and visual art. In 2004, Tara found appreciation and support for this vision at The Institute Of Indigenous Arts™ , an international art forum that focuses on Sound/Movement Integration (SMI) modalities. SMI was founded by Sahn Nicole Hill, who inspired the blueprint of what would become known as heARTistry in MOTION ™ . Tara joined the teaching staff of The Institute Of Indigenous Arts/SMI™ in 2008.

What emerged next from her artistic journey were collaborative, cross-cultural art performances that transcended dance and the canvases she painted on. Tara began to hold Live Painting Performances that incorporated her dance medicine practice, braiding together talented musicians who held the heartbeat of the dance. These heARTistry in MOTION ™ events gave life to the canvas and artist as well as the audience, and the resulting inspirations were be grounded on large-scale canvases. In other expressions of the work, she cultivated a cross-genre approach in her work, creating Elemental Mandalas in a style of contemporary abstraction. As the Artistic Director of heARTistry in MOTION ™ , her work was featured in Conscious Dancer magazine in the fall of 2009.

Her performance collaborations took place in exquisite spaces and venues including Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, The Temple SF, Isis Oasis, festivals in Northern California, Burning Man, Maui, and New Zealand.

Tara formed the HeARTistry in MOTION Outreach Program to bring art supplies to children in other parts of the world, facilitating deeper understanding through a cross-cultural, creative exchange of art, sound and movement. Her first endeavor was exploring the creative spirit through sound, movement and art with children in villages throughout Thailand and Laos. Tara is currently joining forces with the Create Peace Project and will take her work to India in the Spring of 2011.

Tara recently completed the first draft of a children’s book: Lucy and the Magic Dream Garden. The book is in review for publication in the Fall of 2011.

Click here to go to the Tara Shorey's main web site: www.tarashorey.com .