Willow Rea Temple was born and raised on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where the ocean and wetlands have always been the captain of her heart. From an early age, she became fascinated with the shifting facets of the sea and its ability to maintain order within chaos. Often, the temporality portrayed within the shifting tides of the ocean (and our lives) is reflected within her art. Willow graduated from UNCW with a bachelors in studio art, focusing on print making and ceramics. Since then, shes moved around to a few different places, making her pick up a paint brush for its versatility and accessibility. Perhaps due to her more three dimensional background, Willow loves to experiment with mediums, building up thick and diverse layers upon her canvas. She uses a hodgepodge of things like oil sticks, acrylic, oil paint, charcoal, graphite, ink, pastels, textiles and collage. By using deep pigments and varying materials, her goal is to provide a sense of renewal the way wetlands do for her, and reveal a glimpse into a more fantastical world through colors, energy, and texture.
