LONG BEACH, Wash. — Wearing giant glasses and graduating as valedictorian, it was inevitable that Taryn Wise would be teased about being like an owl.

“People made fun of me. But my family liked owls,” she said, recalling her childhood years in Peoria, Illinois. Gifts inevitably had owl themes. “We always had collections of owls, whether we wanted them or not!”

Years later, she smiled at the memory.

“I decided to just embrace it,” said Wise, whose art studio just north of downtown Long Beach is called the Transparent Owl.

She will be among 18 vendors at a Holiday Bazaar from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2 at the Peninsula Church Center in Seaview.

She will display tarot decks, wooden puzzles and glass jewelry.

A painter, Wise earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri, then a master’s in art history from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She worked in gallery management in Arizona, California and New Mexico before moving to the Pacific Northwest. She worked at the Bronze Coast Gallery and Icefire Glassworks in Cannon Beach; the latter spurred her interest in fused glass art, explaining the “transparent” in her studio name.

Owls permeate her designs, including paintings where she first creates bold abstract backgrounds by pouring acrylic then adds a finely detailed bird in oils. “It is a very unusual combination,” she said. “It is that juxtaposition of abstract and realism that I like so much. That is exciting to me. I don’t decide what bird is going to be in my pieces until later.”

One work featuring an eagle was used on the poster to promote the Stormy Weather Arts Festival in Cannon Beach in 2019.

Her other offerings include more than 30 miniature jigsaw puzzles of sea turtles, owls and whales in decorative wooden boxes. She is a regular at markets in Long Beach on Fridays, Ilwaco on summer Saturdays and the Astoria Sunday Market. “I am known as the ‘Puzzle Lady’ at the markets, or the ‘Owl Lady,’” she said.

A significant portion of her narrow, functional gallery is dedicated to tarot card art. It reflects her advanced degree: “Art history is all about symbolism and imagery,” she said.

Benefiting from skills learned in her father’s print shop, she has designed three packs featuring owls, spirit animals and oracles, and is working on a fourth. She has published two accompanying books containing explanations, affirmations and daily challenges.

Tarot traditions date to 15th century Europe, either for games or divination. Packs may have 78 cards with four suits, plus face cards that signify characters. Wise offers readings, but stressed that she does not claim to be a psychic. Instead, she encourages clients to tap into their creative minds.

“I believe that everyone is creative. It is not just having to do with painting and writing,” she said. “It is a way to look at a problem and come up with a solution that is a little different — that’s creativity, and is part of being human. It is part of who we are.”