A new exhibition featuring the work of Wheeling-based interdisciplinary artist Georgia Tambasis recently opened at the Artisan Center Gallery, bringing together watercolor paintings and hand-formed ceramic vessels in a thoughtful exploration of beauty, intuition, and everyday inspiration.
Titled Imaginary and Real, the exhibition highlights Tambasis’ ability to move fluidly across mediums—drawing, painting, sculpture, and ceramics—while allowing materials and process to guide the outcome of the work.
The exhibition opened with a gallery reception last week and is now on view for the public to experience.
A Life Shaped by Art and Experience
Tambasis’ journey to becoming a full-time artist has taken her across continents, disciplines, and careers.
Born in a small village in Greece, she immigrated to the United States with her family at the age of ten. Her early career began in healthcare, earning a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Thiel College and working in the nursing field for more than a decade before ultimately pursuing her passion for art.
She later earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Youngstown State University and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Texas at San Antonio, building a multidisciplinary practice that includes drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture, and installation.
Over the years, her work has appeared in numerous national and regional exhibitions and has been recognized with multiple awards and honors.
Tambasis has also spent much of her career teaching and mentoring emerging artists. She has taught at the University of Texas at San Antonio, St. Philip’s College, Northwest Vista College, and the Southwest School of Art and Craft in San Antonio. Closer to home, she served as an assistant professor of visual art at the former Wheeling Jesuit University and as an adjunct professor at Bethany College.
Today, she continues her practice as an independent artist, curator, and educator living in Wheeling.
Finding Inspiration at the Dining Room Table
The works in Imaginary and Real began in an unlikely place: Tambasis’ own home.
“My studio is my house,” she explains. “What’s piled on my dining room table inspired my current watercolor paintings and clay vessels for this exhibition.”
The watercolor paintings grew out of a daily sketchbook practice, evolving into a meditative routine centered around spontaneity and intuitive mark-making. Rather than beginning with a rigid plan, Tambasis often starts simply—with a color, a brush, and an open page—allowing the image to emerge organically with each stroke.
The paintings are loosely influenced by a range of sources, including historical still life paintings from the Dutch Golden Age, Japanese flower arrangements, contemporary floral painters like David Hockney, and observations from nature walks. But the true spark came from the accumulation of dried flowers, leaves, and natural fragments scattered across her table. That quiet still life became the starting point for a series that blends observation with imagination.
When Painting Meets Clay
While developing the watercolor series, Tambasis noticed something unexpected: the vases appearing in her paintings closely resembled the forms she often creates in clay. That realization sparked the next phase of the exhibition.
She began producing a series of ceramic vessels to accompany the paintings, creating a dialogue between the two mediums. Displayed together, the pieces echo one another in form, color, and surface texture.
The idea was inspired in part by the tradition of Japanese ikebana, where the vessel is considered just as important as the floral arrangement it holds. Together, the paintings and ceramics invite viewers to consider the relationship between object and image, imagination and observation.
Why Flowers?
At the heart of the exhibition is a simple but powerful subject: flowers.
While reflecting on the series, Tambasis encountered a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that resonated deeply with her work:
“Earth laughs in flowers.”
For Tambasis, flowers represent far more than decorative beauty. They are deeply tied to human emotion and experience. Flowers express gratitude, love, apology, and remembrance. They offer comfort during grief and celebration during joyful moments. They are used in medicine, rituals, and everyday gestures of care. In a time of social tension and uncertainty, Tambasis found solace in returning to this subject. Painting flowers became both an act of reflection and a means of escape—a way to remain present with the materials in her hands while processing the complexities of the world outside the studio.
“I try to empty my head of fear and judgment, stay present with the material, and let it guide me,” she says. “I make art with my gut.”
Two espresso cups available for purchase at the MOJO shop. Open T-F 12-5pm
An Invitation to Slow Down and Smile
Ultimately, Imaginary and Real is about the quiet power of small things—flowers, vessels, marks on paper—and the way they can shift our mood or perspective.
Tambasis hopes visitors leave the exhibition with a simple but meaningful response.
“I hope you find the work delightful,” she says. “I hope it makes you smile.”
The exhibition is currently on view at the Artisan Center Gallery. Visitors are encouraged to stop in, spend time with the work, and experience the conversation between watercolor and clay for themselves.
Riley Carpenter is a Wheeling local, born and raised. She grew up in Warwood, attended West Liberty University. She lives in Clearview with her husband, two children and fur babies. Riley loves everything Wheeling related and never has thought of moving away. She taught in Ohio County Schools for nearly ten years, and joined the Wheeling Heritage team as their Director of Programming in 2024. Riley is also a photographer, and officially opened her own photography business, Riley Lynn Photography LLC, in 2020. She loves capturing the emotion of joy most of all, no matter what the occasion!
