Tammy Ratcliff

Biography

Tammy Ratcliff is a Guelph artist who specializes in printmaking and fibre arts. She divides her time between her active studio practice and co-managing Wyndham Art supplies, the family business she runs with her partner.
Since completing studies at Beal Art (London) in 1993, she has shown work regionally, nationally and internationally. Her work is included in numerous private, public and corporate collections including the Dan Donovan Collection, Art Gallery of Guelph, Ernst & Young and Idea Exchange, Cambridge. She has travelled extensively for artistic investigation and development, including residencies in Tromsø, Northern Norway and most recently, a trip to Japan to research fine paper making.
Tammy is inspired by the botanical world and its endless examples of imperfection and impermanence. From this viewpoint she uses traditional textile techniques to manipulate her etchings and monoprints on handmade paper, creating renditions of functional textile pieces. Items whose utilitarian value might be lessened as they become threadbare and fragile through use are thus transformed into artifacts of shared memories and the passage of time.