My figures are a compilation of conflicting ideas and emotions that are derivative of the ideal beauty inherent in traditional figurative sculpture and the abstract beauty that is found in the contemporary non artistic photographic representation of the body. Close-ups of fashion models, dental and surgical procedures, as well as fetish and memorial photography can be comparable with the beauty of an exquisite marble figure. I am interested in the vulnerability and latent sensuality that can be seen in these images and the emotions that are elicited from the interactions of their conflicting nature. The subsequent figures strive to be simultaneously beautiful and provocative.
Education
2003 MFA, University of California, Los Angeles, California
1998 BFA, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Professional Experience
2009 Adjunct Faculty, University of California Los Angeles
2006-09 Adjunct Faculty, California State University Northridge
2005-09 Adjunct Faculty, University of Southern California
2005 Adjunct Faculty, California State University Los Angeles
2001-03 Teaching Assistant, University of California Los Angeles
1999-00 Artist in Residence, Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT
Solo Exhibitions
2008 Western Project, Monochroma, Los Angeles, California
2006 Western Project, Beautiful Dreams, Los Angeles, California
2004 Dubhe Carreno Gallery, the Inside Room, Chicago, Illinois
2000 Archie Bray Foundation, Ranch Dreams, Helena, Montana
1999 Real Art Ways, Domesticated Pleasures, Hartford, Connecticut
1998 Ceramic Art Gallery, Thesis exhibition, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Group Exhibitions
2009 Figuration to Fragmentation, Tuska Center for Contemporary Art, University of Kentucky,
Lexington, KY, pending
2008 Innovation and Change: Great Ceramics from the Arizona State University Art Museum
Collection, Travelling Exhibition.
Western Project, Aqua Art Miami, Miami, FL
White Elephant Complex, Sam Francis Gallery, Crossroads School, Santa Monica, CA
Confrontational Ceramics, the Arts Exchange, Westchester Arts Council, White Plains,
New York
Sculpture Part I, Western Project, Culver City, CA
LA art in New York, Western Project, New York, NY
Material Transcendence: Clay as Commentary, Three Rivers Arts Festival Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Material Transcendence: Clay as Commentary, Fine Arts Center Gallery, University of
Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR
2007 Multiple Vantage Points: Southern California women artists1980-2006, Barnsdall Municipal Gallery, curator: Dextra Frankel, Los Angeles, CA
LA art in New York, Western Project, New York, NY
Art LA, Western Project,Santa Monica, CA
Face Value, Sam Francis Gallery, Crossroads School, Santa Monica, CA
Aqua Art Miami, Western Project, Miami, Fl
The First Element, Helen Lindhurst Gallery, USC, Los Angeles, CA
2006 Western Project, Aqua Art Miami, Miami, FL
Union Station, ArtSeen II: Charity Auction, AIDS Research Alliance, Los Angeles, CA
Ceramic Research Center, Dwell, Arizona State University Museum,Tempe, AZ
Western Project, Art LA, Santa Monica, CA
The Clay Studio, the Figure in Context, Philadelphia, PA
Western Project, In This House That I Call Home, Los Angeles, CA
2005 Western Project, Aqua Art Miami, Miami, FL
New Space Gallery, 5 and Dime, Manchester, CT
LA Louver, Rogue Wave, Catalogue, Venice, CA
Baltimore County Center for Art and Visual Culture, NCECA Clay National, Catalogue, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD
Western Project, Art LA, Santa Monica, CA
2004 Dubhe Carreno Gallery, SOFA Chicago 2004, Chicago, IL
Betty Rymer Gallery, Implicit Plasticity, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Kirkland Arts Center, Gigantic: Ceramic Figurines, Juror: Patti Warashina,
Indianapolis Convention Center, NCECA 2004 Silent Auction Invitational,Indianapolis,IN
2003 Dubhe Carreno Gallery, SOFA Chicago 2003, Chicago, IL
Lowe Gallery, Lowe Gallery Invitational, Santa Monica, CA
Track 16 Gallery, What do You See at Night?: UCLA Department of Art MFA Exhibition Group Show, Los Angeles, CA
New Wight Gallery, MFA Thesis Exhibition, Los Angeles, CA
2000 Warehouse Gallery, 4th Annual Archie Bray Foundation Scholarship Benefit Auction,
Helena, MT
Warehouse Gallery, Annual Resident Artist Exhibition, Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT
Feitico Gallery, Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl, Chicago, IL
Colorado Gallery for the Arts, Archie Bray and the Colorado Connection, Arapahoe Community College, Littleton, CO
1999 Feitico Gallery, Invitational Group Show, Chicago, IL
Laramie County Community College Fine Art Gallery, Potters from the Archie Bray
Foundation, Cheyenne, WY
Warehouse Gallery, Annual Resident Artist Exhibition, Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT
Ferrin Gallery, Erotica in Ceramic Art: Sexual, Sensual, and Suggestive, Invitational,
Northampton, MA
1998 Real Art Ways, No England/No Amsterdam III, Hartford, CT
Jacob Lawrence Gallery, BFA Group Exhibition, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
1998 Viking Union Gallery, Beyond Borders: 1998 College Art Competition, Western Washington
University, Bellingham, WA
Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, UW / Emily Carr Exchange Show, Best of Show, Vancouver, BC
Erector Square Gallery, Women in the Visual Arts 1998, New Haven, CT
Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Open 14: Juried Undergraduate Show, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Lectures
2008 Arizona State University Art Museum Ceramics Research Center, Tempe, AZ
Crafting Content: Ceramic Symposium, Fayetteville, AR
2005 California State University Northridge, Los Angeles, CA
2004 The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2002 Holter Museum, Helena, MT
University of Montana, Missoula, MT
2001 Holter Museum, Helena, MT
Awards
2003 Elizabeth Heller Mandell Memorial Scholarship
2002 Hoyt Scholarship
2001 Clifton Webb Fine Arts Scholarship
D'Arcy Haymen Award
1996 Connecticut Women Artist Award
Museum Collections
Arizona State University Art Museum Ceramics Research Center, Tempe, Arizona
Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, Kansas
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
Publications & Reviews
2009 Held, Peter, Innovation and Change: Ceramics from the Arizona State University Art Museum, Perpetua Press, pp. 68-69.
Tourtillot, Suzanne, 500 Ceramic Sculptures, Lark Books, pp. 237, 267.
2008 Allison Gibson, Art Ltd, “Tanya Batura: “Monochroma” at Western Project”, November/December 2008, p.22.
Buckley, Annie, ArtScene, “Continuing and Recommended”, October 2008, p.25.
”Picture Postcard”, Artnet.com, September 2008.
Buckley, Annie, “Critics’ Picks: Tanya Batura”, ARTFORUM.com, September 2008.
2008 Miles, Christopher, “Tanya Batura at Western Project”, LA Weekly,
September 12-18, 2008.
Schwartz, Judith, Confrontational Ceramics, University of Pennsylvania Press, p. 110
Diaz, Carla, “Tanya Batura”, Beautiful Decay, Issue V, pp. 80-85.
2007 Myers, Holly, “Dynamically Capturing the Feminist Spirit”, Los Angeles Times,
March 13, 2007.
2006 Pagel, David, “Voyeurism turned into a virtue”, Los Angeles Times, April 14, 2006.
Dambrot, Shana Nys, “Ten to Eye”, Lifescapes Magazine, March 2006, pp. 14-15.
2005 Pagel, David, “Summer Sampler has a Dark Side”. Los Angeles Times, July, 8, 2005.
Tourtillot, Suzanne, The Figure in Clay, Lark Books, p.173.
“Up Front”, Ceramics Monthly, 53, no.4, April, p.16.
Mercado, Darla, “Not Just Vases and Ashtrays: the Tour de Clay”, The Retriever,
April 5, 2005.
2004 “Portfolio: Tanya Batura”. American Craft, 66, no.6, December/January, p. 55.
Kangas, Matthew, “A very big show for all who appreciate ceramics in all its guises”,Seattle Times, March 26, 2004.
2003 Mathieu, Paul, “Sex Pots: Eroticism in Ceramics”, Rutgers University Press, p.189-191.
2001 LaPointe, Nancy, "A Visit to the Bray", Ceramics Monthly,49, no.1, January, p.69.
1999 Frank Rizzo. “BANNED”. Hartford Courant, October 17, 1999, Arts section.
Miller, Steve. "On Exhibit". Journal Inquirer, November 13, 1999, State/Region section.
Weiss, Eric, M. "Banned Art Show Opens". Hartford Courant, November 13, CT section.
Starger, Steve. "RAW Exhibit Might Raise Some Hackles". Journal Inquirer, November 12, Living section.
