Theresa P-Tan

Artist Bio

Theresa P-Tan is an Ecuadorean/Puerto Rican mixed media artist hailing from Brooklyn, NY. With a Master of Arts in Education from Columbia University’s Teachers College, she began her career as a New York City public school teacher, specializing in inclusive elementary education. While nurturing her passion for teaching, Theresa also pursued her artistic aspirations, earning a Certificate in Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design and attending numerous workshops to refine her craft.

In 2016, Theresa relocated to Durham, NC, where she transitioned from her role as an educator to a full-time artist. Her work seamlessly blends her multicultural heritage and rich experiences, creating pieces that resonate with vibrant narratives and layered textures.

Theresa has served as a teaching artist with The Durham Arts Council and The Carrboro ArtsCenter, sharing her expertise and inspiring others through her workshops. Her art has been showcased in venues, including Golden Belt Art Campus (Durham, NC), The Durham Arts Council (Durham, NC), The ArtsCenter (Carrboro, NC), and Diamante Arts & Cultural Center (Raleigh, NC).

Currently, Theresa is a member of FRANK Gallery in Chapel Hill, NC, and her work is available at The North Carolina Museum of Art’s Museum Shop. She continues to captivate audiences with her mixed media creations, rooted in cultural storytelling and a lifelong love for education and art.

Statement

Theresa P-Tan’s mixed media abstractions, landscapes, and textile-inspired pieces are deeply rooted in her dual experiences of Brooklyn’s urban vibrancy and the raw beauty of everyday nature encountered through her daily life and travels. Her work explores the tension and harmony between chaos and calm, reflecting her desire to find balance in an often tumultuous world. Each piece becomes a visual dialogue—a push and pull between order and disorder, purging emotions through layers of color and texture.

Through her art, Theresa aims to capture the duality of life: where hardness meets softness, beauty confronts ugliness, and light dances with shadow. Her use of vibrant hues and tactile elements conveys the richness and complexity of these contrasts, inviting viewers to explore the delicate interplay of opposing forces.

Theresa’s creative process is fueled by curiosity and experimentation. Working with acrylic paints, collage, and layered marks from pencils, pastels, and other mediums, she builds intricate textures that evoke depth and emotion. Each mark is an inquiry—a “what if?”—as she moves intuitively, balancing instinct and reflection until the piece resonates with a sense of resolution and rest.

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