Please join us on Thursday, February 9, 6-8pm, at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, for the launch of a new performance project, I LOVE ME. Museum guests will have the opportunity to play game like exercises that dive into the notion of self-care and love, while experiencing the museum through a different perspective. Guests will also have the opportunity to purchase merchandise such as totes, stickers, buttons, prints, and t-shirts from the Be Authentic line. If you’re in the area, we hope to see you there!
As of December 2022, I became a resident of the Gear Factory in Syracuse, New York. If you’re coming through the area, please stop by for a visit and tour of this amazing building, where creativity is happening on all the floors. I am so happy that I found this place!
Available for the month of December, a collaboration with San Francisco based mail artist Mike Dyar, from 2021, a limited edition (1/5) mixed media work for $150/each. Interested parties should contact Tina at: tina m dillman @ gmail.com.
My parents’ backyard in Central New York on a Sunday morning in February 2022, when it was 21 degrees Fahrenheit outside.
Over the past 4 months, I had the privilege of being able to travel around Costa Rica (CR). [To see my travel logs, you can view those images on social media through Instagram or Facebook.] Without trying to sound cliche, but while also being honest, it was an amazing adventure that has and will continue to have a huge impact on my life. My time in CR not only reinforced ideas and notions I had previously of the world, Americans/Westerners, and myself in said world, but it also provided me with the time and space necessary to transform into this next phase of myself. A side that I feel like I have been missing and longing for, for way too long.
I am at that point in my life (I am currently 42, almost 43 years old), where I am realizing just how valuable time really is, as half of my life has passed me. Did you ever think about how time is a non-renewable resource? Every second you spend doing whatever is one second that you will never get back, ever. I thought about this a lot in CR. I think I was having my own existential crisis, but I was ok with that, because I knew that I was not fully happy when I arrived to CR. I knew that things in my life had to change, but I was not fully aware of how or what exactly had to change. So, I did what I could and I gave myself the time to think, process, and begin to work through the deeper levels of trauma and pain that my body had been storing. I began to further peel those layers back, so I could understand the how’s and why’s of my life. I used the tools that presented themselves to me-a therapist, energy healers, body workers, workshops, friends, solitude, and mother nature to further investigate and care for myself in all the ways possible. I showed myself how much I really loved myself, and in becoming more aware of myself, I saw that I had a pattern of taking care of myself and that this behavior was my normal.
Everyday I was in CR I felt grateful. I felt grateful for my surroundings, the ocean, the sea, the mountains, the people, the friends I made, the food I ate, the herbs, fruits & vegetables I picked and created meals from, my parents & friends that helped me navigate between continents, the butterflies, hummingbirds, and creatures I admired, usually from afar. Everything played a role in helping me find me, or should I say, reconnect with the parts of me that had laid dormant for some time.
And, here I am world, ready for what lies next. I am not sure what that is exactly, but everyday, I know I am getting a little closer.
[Side note: I ask that you please be patient with me. I do want to share more with you about all of those topics I mentioned above, but it may take some time as they could present themselves as art works, performances, writings, or events. And these things not only take time to develop, but money as well.If you think you can assist me in some way, please reach out via email or phone. I am open to travel, so let’s talk!]
In mid-October I will be traveling to Parrita, Costa Rica for a 3 month residency at the Mauser EcoHouse, where I will be learning about plants, herbal medicine and sustainable living. I have been wanting to visit this country since I was 12! I first became fascinated with the culture and language through my elementary Spanish class, and later in life this interest led me to visit Mexico and Cuba through professional art endeavors, and now, after 30 years, my childhood dream is becoming a reality. I feel so fortunate for this opportunity, and look forward to all the creatures, plants, people, food, and customs that I will be exposed to. I’ll be sharing my experiences here and through social media, so if you would like to live vicariously through me, please do. Life is short and there is no time to waste, as we don’t have enough of this precious resource to do everything that we would like.
I want to exist in a world that is free from discrimination and hate, where the wealthy do not look down upon the poor, but equal; where one can be open to their desire, and love whom they want, without impeding judgments from others, or restrictions that threaten their daily lives; where you can breathe clean, unpolluted air and drink uncontaminated water from your household sink; where your fellow citizens aren’t camped out all year long on the streets, and you don’t have to go into debt to access the proper healthcare or education; where greed and plastic aren’t ruining our environment by suffocating our trees, wildlife, and oceans. I want to live in a world that accepts differences as the new norm, because we all belong here. I want to live in a world that does not yet exist.
-Statement on current status of life in America, words by Tina Dillman, 2020
Installation view of Maria Mangano’s Lesser Bodies, 2019, one of the site specific installations completed for the exhibit, What Have We Done, my first and now only completed curatorial project for the Center.
