About

Short Bio

Tori Berghoff is a professional painter living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She specializes in portrait paintings and representational paintings inspired by nature’s bounty, and enjoys abstract painting between projects. She is also a muralist and loves all things crafty and creative. Tori was born and raised in small-town Texas. She grew up on a farm with little to do but let her imagination run wild and to use the opportunity of boredom and the simple life to create. Her grandmother was an artist, as well, and introduced Tori to the glory of oil paints at a very young age when she recognized Tori’s unstoppable creativity and unquenchable desire to observe and find joy in the world around her through art. Tori knew from an early age that she wanted to live a life pursuing the arts. She spent many years chasing all sorts of dreams including theater, film and a run at Nashville to be a country singer. The easel always called her home, though, so when she moved to San Francisco she decided to return to school to get a formal education in the classical approach to painting. She attended the Academy of Art University SF to study Fine Arts, Painting and Drawing where her love of portraiture was born. She has also studied under Chester Arnold, Kathleen Lack and Jerry Ross. She is a member of the Portrait Society of America and Art Works Downtown. Tori has been featured in many juried group exhibitions including the celebrated deYoung Open 2023. Tori resides in beautiful San Rafael, CA where she lives with her amazing husband, two awesome kids, beloved pup Bonnie, and crazy kittens Rocky and Radish.

Statement

This piece is based on a photograph of me with my parents during the early stages of their marriage’s collapse. The pattern on my mother’s nightgown comes from a family letter dated 1911, a connection to the past that reflects the ways family histories echo across generations. It symbolizes the ongoing inheritance of both blessings and burdens, the unseen threads that weave through time, shaping who we become.