Picture postcards

Postcards are more than just a flimsy little piece of cardboard for artist Tjasa Owen (Art History ’93).

There are postcards in her “inspiration drawer,” where she also stashes compelling images, letters, stamps, photos and articles.

There are postcards of ancient Rome she’s sent over the years to John Dobbins, the art history professor who taught her and remains an important influence.

And then there are the elements of the postcard that creep into her artwork: postmarked stamps in the right-hand corner of an otherwise clear blue coastal sky, or cursive handwriting that gracefully blends into the grasses and trees in her rural landscapes.

Take “Wine Route,” which Owen donated to the University of Virginia Art Museum’s annual holiday art auction, for example. The painting features a row of trees with subtle, yet colorful, postage imagery running across the top of the canvas. The endless rows of trees are reminiscent of the years Owen spent in France leading bike tours after college.

“When I include postage elements in my paintings, it’s as if I’m sending a postcard back to share what I’ve just experienced,” she said.

And Owen certainly has a lot of travel experience to share. “My parents were the type of parents who said, ‘Okay, let’s go to the place that’s furthest away,’” said Owen, who had been to India five times before she joined her first-year class at U.Va. It’s no wonder that images of airmail envelopes also find their way onto her canvases. Mexico, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Haiti, Burma — Owen has been to them all and many other exotic locales, and each has left an indelible impression. She is always taking note of the colors, composition, form and lines surrounding her when she travels, and those images — whether in her memory or captured on a roll of film — inspire her work.

“Every six weeks I’m on the road,” said Owen, who lives in San Francisco with her husband, Scott Kalmbach, a furniture designer, and their 3-year-old son, Finn. “I always come back feeling more inspired.”

But not all of her travels take her to far-flung international destinations. Close to her heart is Block Island, a quaint beach community off the coast of Rhode Island, where her family vacationed when she was growing up and which she continues to visit to this day. Owen spent many childhood summers on the island, away from the urban chaos of New York City, where she was raised.

Just last fall, Owen visited Charlottesville for the first time since graduation. “It was really good to be back,” she said. “It’s definitely not going to be 11 years again.” While in town, she roamed along the Downtown Mall, dropping off some of her promotional postcards at local galleries. As a result, 10 of her small paintings were showcased in a “Small Treasures” exhibit at the Charlottesville gallery Les Yeux du Monde.

In her artwork Owen often celebrates the simple and non-materialistic things of life: the trees of France, the Atlantic coastline or the white barns of New England. And although she’s found a creative home in San Francisco, she harbors a dream of moving back east and working in a white barn studio by the sea. For now, though, she’s content. “If I can’t own the barn,” she said, “I’ll paint it.”