About Alfa Tate O'Neill
Alfa Tate-O’Neill is a Washington, D.C. - based artist who creates custom art infused with magical realism.
Working with acrylic paint layered over photography, and often embellishing with rhinestones or jewelry on canvas, Alfa transforms personal moments into luminous works of art.
Her subjects - family, friends, pets, and the natural world - are reimagined with color, texture, and a touch of sparkle that makes each piece vibrantly alive.
Blending storytelling with craftsmanship, Alfa invites viewers to step inside the world of each creation.
Her works balance intimacy and humor, drawing on her own experiences and imagination to tell stories that feel both personal and universal.
From private commissions to gallery exhibitions, Alfa’s art captures the decisive moments of life and renders them unforgettable.
Born in Zurich and raised in the U.S., she spent over 35 years marketing iconic films like The Godfather and The Hunger Games before shifting her creative energy toward fine art.
Her works blend acrylic paint, photography, and hand-applied rhinestones or jewelry, bringing decisive moments of family, friends, pets, and places vibrantly to life. Since relocating from Los Angeles to Washington with her Berger Blanc Suisse, Marco, Alfa has exhibited with organizations including the Alexandria Arts Commission, Annmarie Sculpture Garden, Las Laguna Art Gallery, and West Elm. Her mission: to celebrate joy, humanity, and spirituality through art that is as intimate as it is luminous.
Alfa Tate-O’Neill spent over 35 years in the entertainment industry, marketing landmark films such as The Godfather, Zero Dark Thirty, Spider-Man, Twilight, and The Hunger Games. Her specialty was distilling big stories into visuals that connected with millions.
During COVID, Alfa turned her creativity toward painting and began crafting custom portraits for family and friends. What started as a passion quickly became a business. Today, she works closely with clients to transform personal photos into fine art, guiding them through size, framing, and design choices. Each piece blends photography with acrylic paint, and many include hand-applied rhinestones and jewelry accents - adding depth, sparkle, and individuality.
Through this process, Alfa helps clients see their memories in a new light, creating artworks that are not only visually striking but also deeply personal and lasting.
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In 2020, Alfa and Marco - her beloved Berger Blanc Suisse (White Swiss Shepherd) - left Los Angeles, sold their home, and drove cross-country to begin a new chapter in the Washington, D.C. area, closer to family and friends. Their journey unfolded against the backdrop of unpredictable spring weather in Texas and Louisiana and the challenges of COVID, but it became an unexpected creative springboard.
Alfa found joy in exploring the backroads and landscapes of America with Marco, even more than her epic motorcycle trip across the country in the 1980s. Along the way, Marco charmed everyone they met and built a devoted Instagram following at @askmarcothedog, where Alfa documented their adventures. That journey inspired the tongue-in-cheek Alfa Design LLC logo, featuring Marco, the Lexus, and Alfa herself - all packed up and ready for what came next.
Alfa was born in Zurich, Switzerland, and moved to the United States when her father was recruited by NASA to help put a man on the moon. Though her parents were multilingual, the family spoke English at home to ease assimilation as they settled into leafy suburbs near New York City and Washington, D.C. Holidays were often spent back in Europe, keeping her connected to her roots.
Growing up, Alfa absorbed the dynamic cultural shifts of the 1960s - shaped by the space race, civil rights, women’s rights, the Vietnam War, Andy Warhol, and British rock music. She often juxtaposed the roil of American life with the vivid perspectives gained from her European travels. Fascinated by the flow of ideas across continents, she was especially amused by how quickly U.S. pop culture influenced her cousins in Switzerland.
Alfa’s obsession with the visual arts began in high school, where her creativity developed alongside her growing awareness of the world around her. Living in coastal Connecticut, she absorbed the quiet sophistication of her surroundings while honing her own expressive voice. Her first exhibition took place at a local summer art festival, where her batiks and paintings sold out - a moment that confirmed art as her true path.
Her early work drew inspiration from popular culture, rock album covers, movie posters, and the bold aesthetic of Andy Warhol. She loved exploring the convergence of old and new, constantly asking how politics, money, technology, and spirituality shape culture - and how those forces intersect visually.
Even then, Alfa’s art carried a sense of play. While she took her ideas seriously, she instinctively leaned toward humor over drama when given the choice, a trait that continues to infuse her work with both thoughtfulness and joy.
At Barnard College, part of Columbia University in New York City, Alfa discovered the American Studies program - a natural fit for her curiosity about culture. The interdisciplinary major offered a lens into history, economics, politics, art, music, science, spirituality, and more. Growing up in an immigrant household, she was fascinated by the uniqueness of American identity and eager to study it in a scholarly setting.
Her questions were both personal and universal: What does it feel like to be American? How are ideals like free will, free markets, and free speech woven into the fabric of the American Dream? Through her studies, Alfa examined how art imitates life - and how life often imitates art.
Immersed in the cultural shifts of the 1970s and 80s - from the end of the Cold War to the rise of cable television and the global dominance of American entertainment - Alfa became captivated by the interplay of art, technology, and society. That fascination ultimately led her to forge a career in marketing, where interpreting and expressing the American zeitgeist became her foundation.
In her years marketing films, Alfa became skilled at aligning each project with the cultural zeitgeist, a role that earned her recognition and awards. Yet the arrival of COVID brought fear, change, and reflection. During her cross-country move with Marco, she noticed the anxiety in people they encountered and felt compelled to respond with something different.
Once settled in Washington, D.C., Alfa turned to painting as a way to express joy - first through portraits of people and places that lifted her spirit. The response was immediate and encouraging. What began as a personal outlet quickly spread, as clients connected deeply with the works she created for them.
Today, Alfa’s art is dedicated to capturing and celebrating our spirituality, our humanity, and our joy - always with a spark of humor whenever possible.
