About Tina Strutz

 

Tina Strutz was born in the Netherlands in the City of Sittard. She immigrated with her family to United States in 1960 and settled in Syracuse, New York. From an early age, Tina had a creative flair to everything she did, and it proved to be useful in her career.

 

For over 20 years, Tina served as the Manager of Visual Merchandising at Dey Brothers department store. Tina was responsible for all in-store design and displays at their network of stores. The holidays were her crowning achievement at the stores, as her passion for elegant holiday displays were applauded by employees and customers alike.  

 

After retiring from Dey Brothers, Tina continued to create magnificent holiday displays in her home studio. For more than 10 years, she would host a holiday event at her home where she would offer holiday arrangements to friends and colleagues.

 

Since the 1970’s Tina was also a self-taught painter.  In 2011 she began to study more formally and applied her creative skill to watercolor and acrylic motifs. Learning the fundamentals of watercolor art from her teacher, Helga Gilbert and the fundamentals of acrylic painting from Mark Rouche. Tina has become an accomplished painter, focusing on landscapes, still-life, and contemporary subjects and methods. Some of her best works have been reflective of local and regional vistas, including beautiful visages of Onondaga Lake, Adirondacks, and the Thousand Islands. Tina's paintings have been exhibited at Liverpool Library, Onondaga County Libraries.  She belongs to numerous art guilds and she has been recognized and applauded by her peers at shows throughout the Central New York region. 

 

In 2016 and 2017, Tina and her sister, Josy Vaassen, a glass artist and master gold and silversmith visiting from the Netherlands, hosted an art exhibit and reception at Tina's home. The events were appropriately named "Two Sisters Art House Exhibit and Reception". If you would like to receive an invitation for future events, please join Tina's mailing list. Tina has also hosted a number of art classes, inviting friends to learn how to create art using alcohol inks. These "Ink and Drink" events were fun for everyone! 

 

Tina continues to find creative inspiration from places she's visited and locations and subject matters that she loves. Her recent works have included Adirondack views and beautiful abstracts painted with alcohol inks. Her passion for this interesting and challenging medium has resulted in dramatic paintings in all sizes, many of which can be seen here on this site. Regardless of her inspirations or media, with each stroke of her brush, Tina brings her creativity and ideas to life on canvas.

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