Mirrors are Reflections of the Heart for Local Artist Couple by Marcia E. Gawecki
After years of showing separately, Michele Tuohey and Oscar Martínez
discovered the impact of showing their colorful, spiritual and psychologically
powerful oil paintings together. "Mirrors" shown in their internet
website and often at different venues around town, reflects their shared Caribbean
roots, their dreams and spirituality, command of color and love for each other.
"Our dual show gives us the opportunity to showcase our similarities
and differences and provides answers to many questions," says Oscar Martínez,
a Chicago painter and muralist, originally from Puerto Rico. Michele Tuohey,
his wife, is half Cuban, half Irish and comes from Miami. The way they met
and fell in love sounds like something from a telenovela.
"Everything just fell into place," says Martínez, who proposed
to Tuohey one week after they met at an arts banquet. "We just followed
our feelings," he says, shrugging off any suggestion that they may have
rushed into marriage. Actually, the couple had talked once before over the
phone when Tuohey called Martínez to solicit donations for a project.
"We discovered we’re both from the Caribbean, so we share the same
culture, language and food. We also are both spiritual and have a love and
respect for nature," Martínez says.
Now, nine years later, the couple is still madly in love. "Each of us
are the wings of the same bird," says Tuohey, quoting a line from a poem
by Jose Martí, a Cuban poet and revolutionary. Together, they raise
their two children, manage a household, paint, promote their "Mirrors"
show and enjoy each other’s company. Their secret to the demands of
everyday life is to occasionally escape to their studio at the Flat Iron Arts
Building in Wicker Park. There they paint, talk, laugh, act childish and critique
each other’s work.
"Painting can be very solitary. It’s just you and the canvas,"
Martínez says. "But it’s more wonderful when you step away
and get instant feedback from someone you love and respect." They talk
about color and composition and what’s working and what isn’t.
"I appreciate her good ideas and the honesty of her answers," he
adds.
"Years earlier, it was in that same studio where Tuohey discovered she
could paint. She would spend long hours drawing while he’d paint. "You
are very good," Martínez recalls telling her. You should paint
with oils." He showed her how to mix and apply color, and she took it
from there.
To her credit, Tuohey has gained recognition for her strong "vibrations
of color" and psychological compositions. She says her theatrical acting
has influenced each of her paintings as they "come to life as separate
stage performances." After earning her degree in performance studies
from Northwestern University, she went on to earn a master’s degree
in business administration from UIC. Currently, she’s on track to earn
her juris doctor in the year 2000.
Many of Tuohey’s paintings depict two identical women," writes
critic Mario Castillo, an art professor at Columbia College. "Both presumably
[are] dealing with life’s conflicting dualities and the balance of the
male and female within."
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