Behind the scenes with Tehya McLeod, our 2025 Featured Artist

by | May 22, 2025

Tehya stands to the left and holds her colorful painting of a glacier and mountain landscape. There are two black dogs sniffing the bottom left corner of the painting. To the right, there are two women sitting next to each other on the couch and one woman next to them in a chair. They are all smiling at the camera.

On difficult days, where progress feels like keeping your head above water, I find myself looking at Tehya McLeod’s featured art. My eyes trace the marmot tracks that Tehya intricately screen printed beneath her painting. And then my gaze catches the crispy blue ice of Exit Glacier and its wildflower-dotted hillside. 

When I look at “Linger in the Lupines”, I’m so effortlessly taken back to my own time at the Harding Icefield in Seward, where the cacophony of sounds, sights, and smells provided the soundtrack to my first summer in Alaska nearly a decade ago. I see the tiny songbird and recall her delicate feet pitter-pattering on the dusty trail. I can still smell that unique combination of sunshine and centuries-old ice. And I can still feel my heart pounding through my chest as I reach the overlook. 

For her piece for the Northern Center, Tehya was eager to incorporate printmaking, using designs similar to quilting. It’s through her use of screen printing and bold colors that Tehya’s artwork becomes energized, layered, and three dimensional. It helps remind us that nature is constantly providing a necessary heartbeat that guides our rhythms here in the North.

 

This is a detailed image of Tehya's painting. There is a mountain and partial glacier visible. A screen print of animal tracks cover the canvas beneath the painting and are slightly visible as a three dimensional detail.

A detail of the screen print underlay. Photo by Sarah Lewis Photography

 

Prior to beginning her painting earlier this year, she spent time researching Exit Glacier and its wildlife. Then, she digitally sketched bear, marmot, bird, and goat tracks and used a transparent transfer to screen print the design onto the 24×24” wood panel. From there, she altered the consistency of her acrylic paint to enable the painted landscape to show over the screen print underlay.

“There’s been a lot more printing coming into my work recently and I just really enjoyed the process of it and how many steps there are,” Tehya said.

Raised in Alaska, Tehya’s art is inspired by personal experiences on the trails, being surrounded by nature. She grew up drawing, started painting in high school, and in 2022 graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks with an Associate of Applied Science degree in drafting technology and a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences degree in Drafting and Design, an interdisciplinary combination of art, architecture, and engineering. 

Tehya tells stories through her art and I hope it brings you back to a favorite memory spent in Alaska’s wilderness.

 

An acrylic painting by Tehya McLeod shows a glacier and icefield surrounded by mountains jutting up from the icefield. In the foreground is a wildflower-dotted hillside with bright purple lupine flowers. The sky is bright blue and there's a screen print underlay of animal tracks behind the painting.

2025 Featured Art by Tehya McLeod. Photo by Sarah Lewis Photography