Photo by Laura McClintock
As he sits at the easel with his pipe, Tim Wayne “T.W.” Vanya admires the walls of his hand-built studio, constructed with century-year-old wood to model his 117-year-old home next door. Costume pieces, skull mounts, ribbons and his art adorn the walls, surrounding himself with inspiration from his career and familial memories.
Although he was fascinated by art and drawing since first grade, Tim wasn’t always a full-time, award-winning artist. Over the course of his life, he tried out different professions, including a short stunt as a policeman before returning to art. Now at 70 years old, he spends his time teaching, photographing, taking care of his family and painting.
Since 1989, Tim’s work has won awards, been placed in permanent collections and showcased in both group and one-man expositions across the United States.
“It’s sort of a moving target, never stops,” Tim says. “If you had told me where I would have ended up and where I am today 40 years ago — I had no idea.”
Throughout his creative career, Tim has tried different styles and subjects. Though he initially pursued sculpting when he was in college, Tim found a passion in the Western art market when he moved to Buffalo Ranch in Somerville. It is here where he met Glenn Cochran, the cowboy that inspires many of his paintings.
“I did basically figurative work — nudes and stuff like this — and then when I fell in with Cochran and the people with the ranch, I started doing western stuff,” Tim says. “And now that’s my focus: cowboys and pretty women.”
Inspired by Spanish painter Joaquin Sorolla, Tim’s favorite piece he has produced is titled “Ars Longa Vita Brevis.” He applies Joaquin’s lighting techniques in his portrait of a woman against a white wall, but Tim says a part of the piece was not intentional. While the oil paint was drying in his living room, a lamp shone across the bottom corner and cast a shadow, creating an interesting element and story.
“‘Ars longa vita brevis’ came to mean ‘Life is short, art lasts forever,’” Tim says. “What Hippocrates was alluding to was that it doesn’t take very long to produce a piece of art, but it takes a lifetime to gain the skills to produce that art. So I thought that was an appropriate title.”
Although he’s been working in the creative industry for roughly 40 years, both in art commission and education, Tim says he is always experimenting with new techniques from different artists. Working as a professor for most of his career, he says he is constantly learning more art history along with his students. In several instances, he has even created pieces, and later found that he subconsciously incorporated an element from history that he had yet to learn.
“History is cyclical,” Tim says. “It’s transfiguration — the more history changes, the more it stays the same.”
Referred to as “Pops” by his students, Tim cares deeply for any student who passes through in his classes. He has taught at College of the Mainland, Schreiner University and various studios across Texas. He especially recalls a class he taught nine years ago with 47 students, saying that he still keeps in touch with them, receiving updates about graduations, weddings, children and more.
“All of us are affected by the teachers we’ve had,” Tim says. “Architects leave behind buildings, warriors leave behind case law. Depending on the profession, you may leave something of yourself behind. As an artist, my obligation to my profession was to continually produce.”
Photo by Laura McClintock
Making his debut back into the Bryan/College Station art scene after years away, Tim is teaching a still-life oil painting workshop at DeGallery for all levels of experience starting Nov. 8. The class is 16 hours over the course of two days, and tickets are $350 not including specific materials. Tim will teach a comprehensive introduction to preparatory drawing, design, color theory, working with oils and how to properly finish and frame artwork.
“He’s a very classic, nice, educated artist with [a] high quality of art,” says Dary Dega, owner of DeGallery. “I’m so honored to be his friend, and I’m so honored to provide the opportunity for Tim to display [his artworks] here in the future and teach his workshops.”
Tim wants to create for as long as he can, hoping to model the end of his career after artist Thomas Hart Benton who died at his easel. He plans to be painting his grandchildren’s accomplishments 30 years from now, and he is currently crafting individualized fabric chair backings with figures of his grandchildren.
“It wasn’t unusual for [Thomas] to spend the night in the studio,” Tim says. “He painted up to the very last minute. That’s my goal, painting right up to the very last minute.”
To register for Tim’s workshop at DeGallery, visit degallery.us/events/493002/. To view his work, stop by The Tin Star Studio located at 277 8th St. in Somerville or visit his website twvanyafineart.com.
