Anna Tsouhlarakis facts for kids

Anna Tsouhlarakis is a talented Native American artist. She makes art using installations, videos, and performances. Anna is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and also has Muscogee Creek and Greek family roots. Her art helps to break old ideas about Native Americans. It makes people think deeply, rather than just looking pretty. Tsouhlarakis wants to show all the different ways Native American art can be. She also teaches as a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder.

About Anna Tsouhlarakis

Early Life and Artistic Beginnings

Anna Tsouhlarakis was born in 1977 in Lawrence, Kansas. She grew up with her father and grandmother. She spent her childhood in Kansas and New Mexico. Later, she moved to New Mexico permanently.

Anna was always around artists as a child. She learned traditional skills like beading and woodworking. Her father, Naveek, was a contractor. He later became a full-time artist who made jewelry. Anna started making art using small pieces of copper or wood her father brought home. Other artists helped her learn about different art forms. They also showed her what it means to be a modern Native American artist. Artists like James Luna inspired her with their videos and installations. Anna then found her own unique style, which was not always traditional.

When she was young, Tsouhlarakis competed in powwow dances. She also had a traditional wedding. Art experts say that Anna's work challenges what people expect from Native artists. This helps to break old ideas that limit Native art to only traditional styles. For example, her 2004 video, Let's Dance!, shows this idea.

Education and Learning

Anna Tsouhlarakis studied art at several places. In 1999, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College. She then received her Masters of Fine Arts degree from Yale University in 2002. She also attended American University in Italy. She studied at the New York Studio School.

Artist Residencies

Anna Tsouhlarakis has been an artist-in-residence at several places. This means she was invited to work and create art there.

• Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO (August 2019 - May 2020).
• Social engagement art resident at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (April 2020).
• Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME (2002).

Life and Current Work

Tsouhlarakis lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and three children.

She is always working on new projects and art shows. You can find out more on her website or social media. One of her projects is The Native Guide Project. For this, she uses billboards and social media. She shares ideas and feedback from people who see her art.

Art Collections

Some of Anna Tsouhlarakis's works are part of art collections.

• Known Paths, shown at Haverford College in Pennsylvania (March 2-5, 2020).
• Art for a New Understanding, displayed at Crystal Bridges (October 12 and 14, 2018).
• Art for a New Understanding, shown at the IAIA (January 2019 - July 2019).

Selected Artworks

Performance and Video Art

Legends, 2005

In her Legends series, Tsouhlarakis uses duct tape. She creates both photographs and performance art. The duct tape covers a woman's body in different ways in each photo. Even though removing duct tape can hurt, the woman stays calm. One art critic, Jennifer McNutt, said that the meaning of this series might be tricky to grasp. Tsouhlarakis wants viewers to come up with their own ideas about Legends.

Intervals of Pretense, 2011

For her 2011 video installation Intervals of Pretense, Tsouhlarakis was inspired by Einstein's ideas about time. She also used beliefs from her own culture. She noticed differences between what she learned at school and at home. In the video, hands are always moving. This makes it look like they are creating something, even when they are not. It makes you wonder if the final artwork or the process of making it is more important. The video also shows the past, present, and future all at once. This connects back to the ideas of time. It is a digital video that runs for three minutes.

Let's Dance!, 2004

Her 2004 video, Let's Dance!, is fifteen minutes and thirty seconds long. In the video, Tsouhlarakis learns thirty different dances. These include the salsa and Harlem Shake. Each dance is taught by a new person from a different background. The video shares a message about including everyone. It shows that no dance or art form belongs to just one culture. Native people can do non-Native dances too. This video also challenges what people expect Native art to be.

Sculpture and Installation Art

Clash of the Titans, 2007

In her 2007 art show, Clash of the Titans, Tsouhlarakis found inspiration. She was inspired by the writer Gabriel García Márquez and stories from greek mythology.

In Other Words: A Native Primer, 2013

For her 2013 installation, In Other Words: A Native Primer, Tsouhlarakis gathered ideas. She collected answers from surveys about what it's like to live in Washington D.C. as a Native American. She got responses from different Native people, including those from the Navajo and Iroquois tribes. The artwork was made using vinyl signs, wood scraps, screws, and wire.

Photography Art

Aesthetically Speaking, 2011

In her 2011 photography series, Aesthetically Speaking, Tsouhlarakis explores ideas about misunderstanding. She uses patterns often linked to Native cultures. This helps start a conversation with the viewer. It encourages them to think about how to fix misunderstandings and lack of real knowledge about Native Americans.

Untitled (silhouettes), 2016

In her 2016 photography series, Untitled, Tsouhlarakis created these photos to protest. They were made to speak out against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Exhibitions and Shows

Solo Exhibitions

These are shows where only Anna Tsouhlarakis's art was displayed.

• 2016 She Made for Her, Neubauer Collegium Gallery. The University of Chicago. Chicago, IL.
• 2013 In Other Words: A Native Primer, Flashpoint Galleria. Washington, DC.

Group Exhibitions

These are shows where Anna Tsouhlarakis's art was shown alongside other artists' work.

• January 19, 2020. Yua: Henri Matisse and the Inner Arctic Spirit. Steele Auditorium. Heard Museum.
• 2019–2020 Art for a New Understanding. Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.
• Museum of Contemporary Native Arts.
  • 2019 Art for a New Understanding. Santa Fe, NM.
  • 2020 Residency
• 2018 Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
• 2016 Ward 12, Halcyon House. Washington, DC.
• 2012 George Gustav Heye Center.
• Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.
  • 2012 We are Here. New York, NY.
  • 2008 Remix: New Modernities in a post-Indian world, New York.
• 2009 Remix: New Modernities in a post-Indian world, New York. Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.
• Art Mural in Montreal.
• Rush Arts in New York.

Awards and Fellowships

Awards

Anna Tsouhlarakis has received several awards for her art.

• R.C. Gorman Award (1995)
• Indigenous Peoples Award (2000)
• Di Modolo Award (2001)

Fellowships

Fellowships provide support for artists to continue their work.

• 2002 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Fellowship
• Yale University, Skowhegan Fellowship
• 2011 Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship
• 2015 Harpo Foundation
• DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
  • 2018 for $6,000
• 2015 The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation
• 2016 Halcyon Fellowship