Skip to content Meet Naomi
Meet Naomi by reading her biography and artist statement below.
Artist Biography:
Naomi Tiry Salgado, b. 1978 – present, grew up in Chippewa Falls, WI and currently lives in the Twin Cities of Minnesota with her husband. Although she has two children, they have grown up and (mostly) no longer live with her. Naomi earned a bachelor of science in Environmental and Public Health from UW-Eau Claire. Although she studied in the science field, Oil Painting captured Naomi’s interest in 2007 and she has been devoted to its study ever since. After teaching elementary art for several years, Naomi dedicated herself to full-time oil painting in 2015. In addition to her personal painting endeavors, she served as president of the Outdoor Painters of Minnesota from 2018-19. Naomi regularly competes in Plein Air Painting events.
Meet My Studio Assistants
Roxie and Watson are my four-legged studio assistants. Roxie is a German Shepherd mix who loves to play. If I have spent too much time painting and not enough time throwing her toy, she puts her paws on my back or even my palette. There have been a number of close calls!
Watson is my short little dachshund-mix who thinks he’s my boss, rather than my assistant. Since he’s a grandpa-dog, he doesn’t mind sleeping while I paint. However, he calls me to task if I try to paint through his suppertime!
Artist Statement:
I love playing around with textures as I paint, applying some areas with thin, drippy glazes, and in other areas applying chunky impasto. The surface texture needs to have a lot of energy for me to be happy with the result. Yet for all of the looseness, it’s still important to me that the underlying composition be proportionally accurate.
Painting en plein air is a particular joy because it adds spontaneity and freshness to my work. There is something about hearing, smelling, and feeling the atmosphere of a scene that I hope comes through on the canvas. Being out there on location also allows me to meet some really awesome people who stop by to see what I’m doing.
Recently I’ve realized that I’m a pathologically curious person. Many different subject matters will pique my curiosity and excite me. And I get especially excited when they can be brought into my art!
Some Cool Facts
Numbers Speak For Themselves
Labor of Love
A large portion of my art sales goes to support the RGMI Children’s Home in India. This is an all-girls orphanage that was started by our family friend and missionary, Dan Gross, after the devastation of the Tsunami of 2004.
It’s important to me that these girls are given a chance so that the streets don’t swallow them up and worse. I wish I could provide a safe home for every girl around the world, but for right now, what I do matters to these girls.
