Curatorial Voice

How interesting that Garber’s most famous painting begins with a simple act of touching. His young daughter, Tanis, bathed in intense sunlight, reaches forward gracefully. Her gaze focuses calmly on her index finger as it rests lightly on the barely visible handle of a door that pokes into the edge of the image. Behind her, the lush foliage of spring flows toward the horizon, and her hair and blouse are lit up like fiery spotlights, as if their very molecules are on fire, or a fairy has touched them with a magic wand. Young Tanis seems wise beyond her years, caught in a moment of contemplation while the earth blossoms all around her. This is the morning of the day the world was born. Garber’s love for that day, for that world, is present in every brushstroke, as is his love for his daughter and his love for his beloved home Cuttalossa where this picture was made.