TAC’s Artist in Residence program provides opportunities for adult artists, creatives, and makers to build professional skills in business, as well as develop their creative work. The program includes classes and workshops on intermediate to advanced art-making, lectures and curriculum on business topics, and events to invigorate the creative community. The program invites artists from around the region to learn career-building skills that boost confidence, techniques, and economic proficiency.
Applications for TAC’s Artist in Residence program are currently closed. Check back, or sign up for our e-newsletter for updates.
Questions? Contact Claire Elam, Arts Education Manager.
Current Residents
Lisl Tulunay (2025) — Painter and Illustrator
Title: Laura Shearing Medium: Oil Paint
Lisl Tulunay is an oil painter, illustrator, and printmaker from the Pacific Northwest. Her work reflects moments of daily life observed, drawing from her experiences living in Türkiye and her current farm life in Oregon. From fishermen by the Bosphorus in Istanbul to a shepherd and her sheep in the PNW, or a shared meal around a table, Tulunay narrates the in-between moments of daily life lived by ordinary people. She is captivated by the tangible, present moments of community, and in her work, she weaves together the meaning she finds in her multicultural life. While her craft is often a personal meditation of her immediate world, her work is still accessible and can resonate with viewers from many walks of life. Tulunay’s work has been shown in galleries throughout Türkiye, the USA, the U.K., and North Africa.
Yannie Álvarez (2025) — Painting
Title: Maya Angelou Medium: Acrylic Paint
Yannie Alvarez is a bilingual Mexican-American artist with a BFA in Art and Design from Western Oregon University. She has been in constant search for balancing both digital and traditional art but has ultimately decided to combine them. She takes the flat shapes and bold colors used in contemporary graphic design and translates them into a physical piece through acrylic paint. Inspired by her community, she focuses on the stories of immigrants, life as a Mexican-American, and her experience with her mental health. Visually, Alvarez’s paintings are semi-abstract with purposeful, clean lines that encourage the viewer to escape the chaos of the mind.
Christina Larsen (2025) — Mixed Media
Artwork Title: Untitled Medium: Ceramics
Based in Eugene, Oregon, Christina Larsen is a multidisciplinary artist working in ceramics, sculpture, and mixed media. For the past several years, her practice has focused on creating sculptural skulls, bone-inspired vessels, and entomology domes that blur the line between fine art and functional object. Drawing inspiration from historical mourning artifacts and the natural cycles of decay, Larsen uses texture, form, and salvaged elements to explore themes of transformation, memory, and impermanence. Her process involves layering materials to create works that feel both familiar and unsettling – challenging traditional notions of beauty while honoring the ephemeral. Through ceramic bread tags, sculptural vessels, and symbolic forms, Larsen invites viewers to confront what is lost in the process of consumption and consider what we choose to preserve, memorialize, or leave behind.
Past Residents
Eileen Hinckle (2021)
Eileen Hinckle has been working as a mural artist since 2012. She grew up in the Willamette Valley and is currently based out of Corvallis, Oregon. Her painting style is influenced by the seven years she spent living in South America where she learned from and participated in diverse communities of muralism and street art. Hinckle draws inspiration from her time spent exploring the forests and especially the jungle in South America. Her artwork is a visual exploration of the reconnection between humans and nature. In addition to murals, she makes paintings on canvas and mixed-media artwork.
Justin Lodge (2019)
Justin Lodge is a artist and educator living and working in Albany, Oregon. He was born in Chardon, Ohio in 1976. Justin holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from Rhode Island School of Design (2005) and a Bachelor of Fine Art from the Cleveland Institute of Art (2000). Justin has found most significant about the residency so far is the opportunity to show his work both in the gallery and in a publication. These opportunities have given him the impetus to focus on producing and defining his work in a way he has not before. He has also benefited from being in communication with other artists, both in the studio and at the lectures. The lectures on professionalism and the business of art have given great information and set a tone for how to get yourself and your work out in the world.
Marie McMahon (2024)
Marie McMahon is a painter based in Eugene, Oregon, who specializes in creating fine art commissions and gallery paintings. Marie’s work features expressive colors, dynamic brushwork, and a unique combination of abstract imagery and realism. Typically referencing flowers, animals, human forms, skyscapes, landscapes, and waterscapes, she aims to evoke the spirit of her subject matter through intuitive expression. Marie values the process of painting and experiencing what she sees. She completes most paintings in one sitting, capturing a fresh and singular experience. Marie aims for her work to enhance feelings of joy, well-being, and connection for customers and viewers.
Scott Moss (2023)
Scott Moss is a painter and photographer living in Corvallis, OR.
Shagufta Mulla (2020)
Shagufta Mulla, DVM is a wildlife artist living in Independence, OR. After a 20-year career as a small animal veterinarian, she changed paths in 2019 to pursue her lifelong passion for art. In contrast to her authoritarian upbringing, her oil and acrylic paintings celebrate individuality. Largely self-taught, Shagufta’s work frequently depicts a solitary subject, with birds, in particular, representing voice and freedom. Her work has been in the Salem Art Association’s Salem Salon show (2019), The Art Center’s 8 x 8 show (2019), and at Keizer Art Association’s Celebration of Flowers (2019) where she was awarded third place for her painting, “Steadfast.” She has also contributed work to Chintimini Wildlife’s annual art auction, Art Is Wild (Corvallis, 2019). She enjoyed speaking with the public about her work during her residency at The Arts Center.
Jessica Rehfield (2022)
Jessica Rehfield (zi/zey, they/them) is an artist from Juneau, AK. Their paintings, illustrations, and social projects explore the political and identity-based issues that define their life. Their current work is a children’s book that features colorful acrylics paired with Yiddish words and phrases, that seeks to celebrate heritages, combat anti-Semitism, and explore marginalized identity (as a Jewish-American person) using stories and the love of matzoh ball soup. Jessica earned a BLA in Art from the University of Alaska Southeast and MFA in Painting and Drawing from Oregon College of Art and Craft. They live in Salem, OR with their fiancée and a giant cat.