Tara Esperanza: THE SUCCULENT GARDEN

March 25 – April 30, 2022

Tara Esperanza has always been interested in and inspired by nature. Her affection for and appreciation of the environment was realized at a very young age and as a painter she has consistently been drawn to the natural world as her subject. Esperanza’s interest lies in sharing the beauty that she sees through her art.

The Succulent Garden is her latest body of work. She began focusing on succulents when she was commissioned to paint them four years ago. That project propelled her into a greater discovery of and deeper relationship with the plants. Whether caring for her own plants or appreciating them in nature, she finds that space and time to be sacred; as she nurtures them, they nurture her.

Esperanza recognizes the power of plants and the effect they have on her. She is interested in their personalities, particularly how resilient they are, how they share space, how they thrive while living in community, and how they lean on each other and hold each other up. She is also inspired by their abundant variety of texture, color, and shape. In her work, she looks deeply into the plants and expresses the interesting compositions that she sees. Her paintings celebrate the diversity and beauty she sees in the succulent world. Her hope is that viewers experience a new, or greater, appreciation of plants, connecting with nature through her work.

Available Work

Me @ Bella 12 2019 (2)

Tara Esperanza

Tara Esperanza earned a BFA in Painting and graduated cum laude from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. In addition, she studied plein-air painting in Brittany, France. Tara was born and raised in Massachusetts. Inspired by the light and landscape, she later moved to Santa Fe, NM. She now resides in Oakland California where succulents grow all year long. Tara has exhibited her paintings in galleries throughout the Bay Area, including Mercury 20 Gallery in Oakland, Jennifer Perlmutter Gallery in Lafayette, Orangeland Gallery in San Francisco, and Marin Society of Artists in San Rafael. As well as Sturt Haaga Gallery in Los Angeles, San Diego Museum of Art, and the Museum of Northern California Art in Chico. Tara is also a long-distance runner and she studies plant life on her runs. She is inspired daily by the beauty that surrounds us and she captures images that live on through her art.