Tim Tait (American, born 1963)
Grandma's Chair 6, Winter Solstice, 2025
Acrylic on linen
24 × 16 inches

Painting is framed in a white floating frame.

This painting was included in the “Shades of Blue” group exhibition at the Wickford Art Association Gallery from February 6–March 8, 2026.

It was awarded First Prize by the exhibition juror, Karen Dolmanisth.

Upon announcing the award, Dolmanisth described the painting as follows: “From the outset, Grandma's Chair 6: Winter Solstice distinguished itself among nearly two hundred submissions. The painting resists easy categorization: it is at once still life, landscape, and figure—yet finally transcends all three. The chair becomes protagonist, memory vessel, and structural anchor within a field of radiant color. The artist's vision is unmistakably individual, animated by a fearless exploration of pattern, geometry, and expressive surface.
The handling of paint reveals deep commitment to the medium. A bold underpainting asserts itself in flashes of vivid orange that emerge strategically through upper layers, creating chromatic tension and vitality. Shadows in resonant blues articulate both weight and luminosity, while the surrounding greens establish a grounded yet celebratory environment. Every brushstroke feels considered—an accumulation of decisions that honor both spontaneity and control. The repetition of the chair form [within the Chairs series] becomes dramatic and iconic, transforming the familiar into something singular and archetypal.
What ultimately distinguishes this work is its devotion—to painting, to observation, to the quiet poetry of everyday life. It radiates gratitude and wonder. Standing before it, one senses the presence of a painter deeply in love with the vocation itself. The work invites sustained looking and rewards it with layered discoveries of color, structure, and feeling. In its bold originality and technical authority, Grandma's Chair 6: Winter Solstice embodies the spirit of this exhibition and merits First Prize for its luminous, generous, and profoundly painterly achievement.“