Carol Tarzier is a Bay Area painter and sculptor. Her sculpture career began in 1993, a few years after arriving in the Bay Area, with figurative and abstract work in bronze. Awards for sculpture include the John Cavanaugh Memorial Award for Figurative Sculpture, numerous awards from the National Sculpture Society including the Roger T. Williams Prize, Alex J. Ettl Grant, Gold Medal, Maurice B. Hexter Prize, and the Bosque Conservatory Art Council’s Silver Medal.
From 1998 though 2002, she focused on commissioned sculptures, with a 7’ bronze memorial to C.L. Dellums, which was unveiled at the C.L. Dellums Amtrak station in Oakland in December of 1999, as well as a life-size memorial to George Hasslein, Dean of the College of Architecture, at CalPoly State University in San Luis Obispo. Over the last years she returned to her first love, oil painting: creating light with color and value.
She has received numerous awards at plein air events, including “Best Collection” at the Mendocino Open Paint Out in 2022. Her paintings have been represented in national shows, including California Art Club’s Gold Medal over the last several years, the Oil Painters of American Western Regional Exhibition, the Triton Museum, the Salon International at the Greenhouse Gallery in Texas, and the Haggin Museum in Stockton.
“Painting is the place I feel the most truthful and most conscious; for me it is at once exhilarating, taxing, and energizing. I grow with the process of painting.” She loves teaching painting and helping students develop perception of light and color.