Tricia Gibbs
From Commercial Art to Canvas Mastery
Tricia Gibbs's artistic journey began far from the studio, rooted in Commercial Art and Visual Design on the west side of Cleveland. Initially drawn to the technical rigor of organizing color and drawing, she transitioned her passion into a robust career as both a practicing artist and a dedicated educator. After moving to New Hampshire, she committed fully to her artistic development, graduating summa cum laude with a BFA in Painting in 2007 from the Institute of Art in Manchester. Her talent and enthusiasm for sharing knowledge led her almost immediately into teaching, starting with her popular Alla Prima class. She swiftly achieved her goal of becoming a full-time instructor and continues to teach and mentor—now in a different capacity in an intensive needs room at McKelbie Middle School—while planning new studio courses for former and high school students through her work with Scholastic Arts.
The Evolution: From Realism to Liminal Space
Tricia’s art is a testament to constant evolution. Her foundational approach was intense realism, driven by the challenge of technical mastery, with James Aponovich's advice, "if you can paint an egg, you can paint anything," serving as a guiding principle. This mastery allowed her to paint complex forms from imagination. Seeking a deeper creative challenge, she shifted to minimalism in graduate school, emphasizing essential forms and limited mark-making. Her current body of work is a powerful synthesis, blending her accomplished drawing and painting skills using mixed media. This approach allows her to explore emotional and spatial concepts, particularly liminal space—the transformative "space in between"—often inspired by the physical and emotional distance in relationships and memory.
Nature, Pigments, and "Palette-to-Palette"
The New Hampshire landscape serves as a profound wellspring of inspiration for Tricia. Her daily walks among local trails and rock walls inform the topographical and landscape-based pieces she creates, inspiring her use of natural colors. Her commitment to the alchemy of art is deep-seated, having previously taught classes on grinding natural pigments and even creating her own for her BFA show. Tricia is now preparing for an exciting new collaborative venture called "Palette-to-Palette." Inspired by the work of artists like Nicola Bennett, this project will pair her with chefs to create art and dishes that mutually influence and interpret each other's work, bridging the sensory experiences of sight and taste.
The Gibbs Collection
Abstract, layered, gestural.
As an artist based in New England, my work is rooted in drawing and mark making, evolving from life painting into a more abstract language that reflects the beauty and structure of the regional landscape. Using mixed media and a restrained palette, I layer and rework surfaces through gestures, creating a dynamic interplay between visible marks and concealed traces. This process—both intuitive and deliberate—invites a slower viewing experience, where meaning emerges through the rhythm of revealing and concealing.
Artist: Tricia Gibbs
This small painting is a deeply layered work that chronicles a journey toward healing, directly inspired by painful memories associated with the "Big Sky of Ohio." The lower half of the composition is saturated with black, representing the difficult times that the artist intentionally covered up through the work's "numerous journeys" (layers of paint). In stark contrast, a purposeful, sharp line marks a "new beginning," separating the darkness from the upper section. This upper area is lighter, rendered in a smoky, ethereal style that suggests "clouds when they break apart" and the return of sunshine, symbolizing light coming back into a painful space. The minimalist black-and-white palette reinforces the concept that memories are often processed in sharp relief, existing "before the color" or return to full happiness.
Dimensions: 11” x 14”
Medium: Mixed media on cradled panel
Artist: Trica Gibbs
This small, super-neutral artwork functions as a topographical and map-like representation of the artist's frequent walks near her home, which sits across from miles of trails. Inspired by the surrounding rock walls and walking paths, the piece utilizes delicate mark-making and deep layers to create a sense of physical depth and chronicle the journeys taken. Conceptually, it captures a liminal space, reflecting the feeling between the artist's physical presence on the path and her internal emotional landscape while there, creating a sense of "home" and affirming an almost synesthetic connection to her routine on these well-traversed paths.
Dimensions: 14” x 19”
Medium: Mixed media on paper
Artist: Tricia Gibbs
Inspired by the Pulpit Trail in New Hampshire and the peaceful, elevated feeling of standing near the waterfalls on large, smooth granite rocks, this piece was painted using a quick process of applying and scraping off pigments. The technique of scraping revealed layers that the artist felt evoked the concepts of “Heaven and Earth,” transforming the artwork into a powerful reminder of the “great vista” seen from the summit. Conceptually, the work represents a special place that offers peace and relief from the heaviness of the world, making the artist feel "closer to something better." This sense of open visual relief is particularly significant as it contrasts with the "enclosed and confined" feeling the artist experienced when moving from the "Big Sky Country" of Ohio to the more heavily wooded landscape of New Hampshire.
Dimensions: 9.5” x 7.5” (matted 11 x 14)
Medium: Mixed media on canvas / paper
Artist: Tricia Gibbs
This miniature painting, part of a series related to the larger work titled Granite, is inspired by the pine forest floor on one of the artist's cherished regular walking routes in New Hampshire. While depicting typical elements of the New England landscape like fields, rock walls, and deep valleys, it is distinguished by beautiful color contrasts—specifically vibrant orange and blue—set against the usual minimalist black and white elements. The artist actively uses pigment sticks in the final stages to create "little things poking through" and to deliberately bring out some of the vibrant colors. Conceptually, the work represents the "happy places" the artist visits often, even perhaps with her eyes closed. The creation process involved continuous layering and scraping to achieve a sense of "concealment and revealing" until the physical artwork aligned perfectly with her internal, remembered thoughts about that specific landscape.
Dimensions: 5” x 5”
Medium: Mixed media on cradled canvas
Artist: Tricia Gibbs
This painting is directly inspired by a particularly challenging and memorable point on the artist's walking trail in New Hampshire - a "really, really intense hill" where a waterfall creates a "super cold and dark" environment. The artwork powerfully evokes the physical and atmospheric sensation of this steep, cold, and private walk. As a deliberate design decision, the artist incorporated a small, striking bit of red to create contrast and effectively pull the eye through the composition. The concept is deeply evocative, with the artist feeling as though she is "right there" every time she views the piece, successfully conveying the steep, cold, and private essence of that specific mile of the loop.