eclectic urge

eclectic urge

ScuLpTURE

Drawing on a lifelong love of working with textiles, my sculptures provide me with a way to get at aspects of emotion that exist beyond words. My interest in symbolism, abstraction, and the psychology of interpretation play a role in steering the outcome of these objects; a framework that produces a vague, and sometimes unsettling, suggestion of shape and form. I often ask myself, How close can I get to making my point while providing the least information? Through this approach I start a conversation with the viewer, peaking their curiosity, pulling them in, and prompting them to interpret what they see through their own lens.

MiNI sERieS

An ongoing series started in 2021 as a response to the isolation and disconnection so many of us experienced during the early years for the pandemic. Manifested from a drive to create small (a.k.a.- mini), playful works of art that anyone could afford, I saw it as a way to spread joy and connection in difficult times, and have kept producing them ever since. As of January 2026 the series contains over 75 pieces. All but a few have found homes.

LOW ReLIEF

Experimental pieces made from cardboard, spackle, and acrylic paint mounted on wood panel

TRAsH jEWeLRY

A large part of my artistic practice involves the implementation of repurposed materials. Whether it is the fabric scraps, old clothes, and recycled polyfil I use for my soft sculpture or the found plastic and wood pieces I incorporate in my installation work and mini sculptures, my love of objects and magpie-esque nature join well with my deeply ingrained ethic of working with the leftovers of overconsumption. My ongoing Trash Jewelry series is a exercise in transformation, an attempt to elevate the things we throw away into something that transcends the material itself.

made from scrap wood and used glow sticks

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made from pipette tips, a register tape spindle, a cord minder, sock packaging, coffee stirrers, and a cording spindle

PRiNT

Samples of my 2D and printmaking work including screenprints on paper, blockprinted fabric, digital collage, comics and zines, and a flash fiction collection inspired by a local photographers' photos of trash.

PRoDucTs

Various products sold under my own name and through my business Modern Radar from 2007 until today. All items were designed, printed, fabricated by me.

CRYPtIc SYsTeMs

exhibition

Solo Exhibition ---> 2021
at The DAG Gallery at Golden BeltCryptic Systems was my second solo exhibition, and the first that predominantly featured the textile art which has become a signature of my artistic style. Experimentation, color, and form were key aspects of my process between 2017 and 2021, as well as learning how to convey ideas through minimalism.My focus on combining sleek, simplified, monochrome "machines" with soft, organic, visceral elements touched upon my own confusion over, and internal processing of, my place in society at the time as a woman, wife, and mother. Having somewhat stumbled into those roles unaware of the consequences, they had slowly taken over my life, turning me into someone my younger self wouldn't recognize. The expectation, societal pressure, empathy and sacrifice my particular situation required of me had left me feeling exhausted, lonely, minimized, and under supported.Meanwhile, watching the decades long religious campaign to take women's and minorities' rights away gain a firm ground (something I had studied, as well as grew up around and heard about first hand) added to my anxieties over self-worth related to the roles I had taken on. How much was too much to give up for love? How much should I have to bend to take care of the needs of others?Pieces like Soft Storm, with it's angular black cloud exploding with colorful blobs and viscera hidden just behind; the stilt-like frame topped with red drips in Anxiety In Isolation; Becoming (an intentional play on words) with it’s brain/intestines controlled by a dark enigmatic device; the exhaustion and surrender in the skeletal drip of Soft Bones. They all speak to my underlying sense of unease with my situation and the frightening urge to break free, to be seen, understood, to feel like my emotions and needs were not a burden to the people around me.My study of technofuturism and cultural manipulation through propaganda also informed many of the pieces I included, such as Dark Machines, Not What It Seems, and What Will They Make Of Us. There are moments of playfulness and hope too, found in works like SunDrip, Renewal, and my first collection of mini sculptures.Putting together Cryptic Systems was my first big move toward rebirth: reclaiming my life and sense of identity as an artist and arts organizer. They are works I love, but are also poignant to revisit, now that I can see their origins more clearly. The journey since then has been beautiful, chaotic, and at times deeply sad, but this body of work is deeply foundational to who I am as an artist and laid the foundation for everything I have yet to become.

YeLloW HoUSe GAlLERY

project

Yellow House is a 12” x 8” x 11” gallery I created in 2025, dedicated to presenting art on a micro scale. Born into this world as a box for distributing real estate fliers, the Yellow House became a victim of the digital age and was left discarded in the weeds behind The Scrap Exchange. I outfitted it with a new frontage, wired it up with lighting, and added some clean white "gallery walls". Now it sits in the building's entryway as a space for local artists to present their smallest of creations.(artwork pictured is by various North Carolina artists)

ThE ARTiSt MARKeT

project

The Artist Market is a store within a store that provides an outlet for artists and makers to sell their creations. Participation is juried, but open to both professional and hobbyist creators in the Durham-area who are passionate about selling their work. Artists make a commission once their items have sold.The Artist Market has existed in one form or another at The Scrap Exchange since it's location on Foster St in the 2000's. When I was hired to revitalize and manage the Market at it's Lakewood location in April of 2023, it was mostly defunct, featuring only five artists and issuing payouts based on the collection of paper receipts.My first step was to renovate the stark and neglected space. Calling upon my past training in theatrical set building, I created signage, painted the walls, hung fabric panels to mask old infrastructure, collected an assortment of donated furniture and displays, built dividers, and installed the final layout.From there I turned to my background as a seller/creator/business owner, store manager, and a wholesale buyer. I devised a method for consignment management within our POS system, built a webpage and submission form, set guidelines, formulated rules and contracts, launched social media promotions, and selected the first group of artists to sell in the space.Since then the Artist Market has grown exponentially each year in both sales and participation. As of January 2026 it is at full capacity with 60 artists and issued almost $44k in commissions to local artists in 2025. It includes a vintage and collectibles section which I curate to help offset the generous commission rate we offer. I also create Scrap Exchange merchandise such as screenprinted t-shirts, hand-cut bumper stickers, scrap kits (such as make your own scrappy bugs and snails), and tote bags.Collaboration, community-buidling, and sharing the work of others is an integral part of my artistic practice. The Market is a true labor-of-love for me and something I am deeply proud of. It connects artists with their audience, promotes shopping local, entertains customers, and provides jobs for amazing people. Please visit and support us if you are ever in the area. I promise you won't be disappointed.

ThE CAMeRoN GaLlERY

project

The Cameron Gallery is a space I manage within the The Scrap Exchange Reuse Arts Center in Durham, NC. We mount 6-8 shows per year featuring artists from all over the North Carolina Piedmont.When I was hired as Artist Market manager in Spring of 2023, the organization was understaffed and overextended and the gallery space was being under-utilized. Over the course of a year I advocated (ok nagged, lol) to reboot the gallery program, and organized a reuse artist's solo show as a trial run.My persistence eventually paid off and I was offered the role of Gallery Manager. Since then I have overseen the jurying and installation of 10 exhibitions ranging from a reuse fashion showcase to installing a holiday over-consumption spectacular using decorations donated to our organization's Thrift Store arm.The Gallery is first and foremost a community space where both trained and self-taught artists share the walls. My personal mission as it's 'coordinator-in-chief' is to provide an engaging, thoughtful, inclusive, and accessible space for all types of artists to share their creations.Through this approach I hope to delight and inspire viewers, making the case that art is not just for the trained and wealthy. Creativity taps the essence of what it means to be human. It is a universal urge and a practice that has no rules or limits. It is a vital tool for communication and something we need to better invest in as a community. Despite the capitalist rhetoric we all internalize, the impact of art on the human experience should not be minimized.

Artwork pictured is by various North Carolina artists.
The 'Mongo' piece is my work, as well as aspects of the installation in the final image

DuRHAM SToReFrONt PrOjEcT

exhibition

Durham Storefront Project was a yearly exhibition that sought to activate vacant storefront and display windows throughout downtown Durham, NC. My piece "Same Circle" was chosen to fill the window next to this amazing vintage brickwork. Produced in partnership with Mercury Studio, Carrack Modern, and Open Art Society, the project ran for three years and featured dozens of artists.For my installation I used plastic circles that topped spindles of blank CDs. Notching the edges, I then wound other creators' discarded yarn scraps around them, exploring how many different patterns I could derive from the same shape. By combining them to look like fabric weavings and attaching them to a source spindle, I hoped to evoke the idea of unity as well as the deep tradition of North Carolina as a textile producer. The piece was installed a second time in a store front in downtown Fuquay-Varina, NC in conjuction with the same organizations (the image with the wooden ceiling).

OH sANTa...

project

Oh Santa, You Shouldn't Have... was a collaboration between myself and fellow artists Heather Anne and Daniel Bagnell. This installation sought to highlight the massive marketing and overconsumption campaign that defines our contemporary Christmas tradition. To create this exhibition we sorted through roughly 100 large boxes of holiday thrift store donations, working them into a holiday maximalist spectacular that provided messaging around the rate at which consumption and trends create waste. At the same time it also provided a fun backdrop for visitors' holiday photos and hopefully inspired some to re-envision old decor instead of replacing it.

A small sampling of some of my experimental sound pieces with visuals attached. MORE COMING SOON.

Forks (2023)

digital sound collage created from live performance with tuning forks(headphones recommended for best listening experience)

Last Girl's Diary (2003)

Instruments (best I can recall): Korg MS-20 analog synth, toy keyboard, bass drum, drum sticks, bass guitar, cassette tape case, hands, various toys and household objects.Recorded and edited with a cassette 8-track and Garage Band.(headphones recommended for best listening experience)-----------------------NOTES:I created this experimental sound piece sometime way back in 2003. It was inspired by my own childhood imaginings while playing in the woods, or on isolated banks of rivers, anyplace where signs of life were thin. I loved to pretend I was one of the last people on earth, suddenly on my own and figuring out how to survive. At age 25, when I was messing around with this series of short musical sketches, I had just moved from the “big city” to a quasi-rural (in comparison) rental outside a college town. The nights there were darker than I’d ever known, and I’d often catch glimpses of wild turkeys or the old lady from next door passive-aggressively mowing my section of our communal lawn out my back window. Young, unmoored, and socially isolated, suddenly 600 miles from everything I had ever known, life was forcing me into shapes I wasn’t entirely comfortable with. This was the mental landscape from which Last Girl’s Diary was born.

sound and video by Tamara Bagnell

about

Tamara Galiano is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Durham, North Carolina. Although no medium is off limits if the right idea presents itself, her favorite ones to work in are sculpture, printmaking, installation, experimental music and speculative fiction. Her aesthetic is playful, vibrant, and at times unsettling, using the colors and sensations of childhood to translate the visceral, and often inexplicable, landscape of adulthood. Drawing on her study of American cultural and religious history, propaganda, technofuturism, and her experience as a woman and a mother, her work seeks to get at something deeper about our nature as humans—to reveal and describe things about ourselves that exist beyond words; whether it is something as simple as our longing to play, or as complex as the ways we cope with fear over a future that feels out of our control.When not making her own art, Tamara facilitates the presentation of other artists’ work as the Artist Market and Gallery Manager at The Scrap Exchange. In addition to those roles, she also collaborates with other staff and community members to produce popular cultural events such as Smashfest and the Trashion Show.

All text, images, and artwork on this website are copyright Tamara Galiano, 2026, unless otherwise noted. Please do not reproduce any of the content on this website without permission.