Artist Statement

Bio

At age 19, Lora Arbrador was given a one-page recipe for making egg tempera paint by a professor with no knowledge of the technique. Like a musician with a strong affinity for a particular instrument, Arbrador found her creative home in egg tempera.

To support her art practice, Arbrador became a registered nurse. Nursing has been the inspiration for many of her paintings, including, Don’t Go My Friend which won first place at the Art & Healing exhibit at Artwest Gallery in 1997.

In addition to acquiring skill in egg tempera, Arbrador immersed herself in the fascinating history of the medium and in 1995 was invited to speak at the Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University.

That lecture evolved into the presentations "What is Egg Tempera?" and "Which Came First? An Artist's History of Egg Tempera." 

In 1997, Arbrador co-founded the Society of Tempera Painters which was modeled after the 1901 Society of Painters in Tempera in England.

Arbrador has exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the US, including South Bend Regional Museum of Art, Wenatchee Valley College Art Gallery and the Bade Museum of the Pacific School of Religion.

Her first book, A History of Roman Calligraphy, is housed in the Marjorie G. and Carl W. Stern Book Arts & Special Collections Center of the San Francisco Public Library. Arbrador's recent book, Art & Love: My Life Illuminated in Egg Tempera will be published in 2024.