Artist Statement: "My family is comprised of six boys and two girls, of which I am the youngest. My father had a passion for drawing. Unfortunately, he was never encouraged to pursue his art. Ultimately, he took up a career as an elementary school teacher. In Korea, schoolteachers follow yearly contracts that can reassign the teachers to different schools in different regions. As a result, our family was always on the move. I grew up amongst a family of older brothers and sister of various age gaps. And I was constantly exposed to new environments. From the differing thoughts of older siblings to the continuous changes in living environment, my childhood had no constant factors. I quickly became accustomed to all the dynamics and variations of life.

Even though I was brought up with traditional customs, my family pushed me to new educational concepts. My father taught me how to draw and nurtured my artistic aspirations. It is with their encouragement and support that I am able to come to the United States to pursue my education. My paintings are both a representation of the outside world and a reflection of my inside world. By considering my emotional reaction and by imagining stories about my subjects, I am able to go to beyond superficial representation to convey character.

Old masters and many contemporary artists have consistently influenced my art. My passion for understanding art is my mission in life. My painting is a way for me to appreciate life."

"Painting is a doorway into another world, a gateway to another reality. It is not only an illusion of three dimensional space but a reflection of the world that exists within me. This inner world that I paint is partly based on reality, but it is an idealized reality. It is a place of calmness that exists in fleeting moments of time.

With painting, I am able to capture these serene moments. The people, places, and events that I paint are frozen in a moment of time and reality that may not have existed in the material world (the world that we live in )."

This is a person who has found her voice as an artist. Tae Park paints a wide selection of subject matter from the classical figure to mythological nymphs, antiquated bicycles tying the viewer to childhood memories, cityscapes of metropolitan areas worldwide, European street scenes from her many painting trips to historical areas and the simple but elegant still life. Her technique of alternating from saturated pigment to diffused paint application gives each piece a soft focus feel. She has her own distinct style, whether the piece is a 6" x 8" painting of two plums or a 48" x 72" life-size painting of a reclining nude the viewer is aware that each is painted by the same artist. Now, as a painting instructor at her alma mater, she shares her passion for the figure and the portrait with gifted students under her tutelage.