Athena LaTocha facts for kids

Athena LaTocha is an American artist who lives in New York. She creates amazing art using different materials. Her artworks often show how people connect with nature and the land around them. Athena LaTocha is from the Hunkpapa Lakota and Ojibwe Native American groups.

Her art has been shown in many places. These include the Fairfield University Museum of Art and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Her work has also been seen at the New York State Museum and the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. She was chosen for a special art program at Wave Hill in 2018.

Early Life

Athena LaTocha was born in Anchorage, Alaska. Her father has Polish and Austrian family roots. Her mother is Native American. Her mother's family comes from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.

Education and Training

Athena LaTocha studied art at college. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of Art Institute of Chicago. Later, she received her Master of Fine Arts degree in 2007 from Stony Brook University in New York.

She first learned to paint with oil paints. But she also learned other skills. She trained in making bronze sculptures at a place called Beacon Fine Arts Foundry. She also took classes in printmaking at the Art Students League of New York.

How Athena LaTocha Creates Art

Athena LaTocha's art process is very unique. She started by using oil paints, but then she changed her methods. She began to remove her own hand and brushes from the painting process. She wanted to find new ways to work with art materials.

She often uses sumi ink, which is a special ink from Japan. She mixes this ink with natural materials like earth. She also uses unusual objects such as bricks and pieces of old tires. She might use a tire shred to spread ink across a canvas. Sometimes, she moves the canvas itself in wavy motions to guide the ink.

When she was at Wave Hill, she even used a root ball. This is the big mass of roots and soil at the bottom of a plant. She usually works with her canvases on the floor. She stands over them, feeling like she is inside the artwork. She likes to be part of the image, not just looking at it from the outside.

The Message in Her Art

LaTocha wants people to see landscapes as active and living things. She believes that humans are part of the land, not separate from it. She shows this by literally working within the scenes she paints.

She has said that her work is about being "immersed in these spaces." She prefers to use terms like "land motifs" instead of "landscape." This is because "landscape" often means looking at something from a distance. She wants the artist and the viewer to feel like they are inside the artwork. She wants them to be a part of the land, just like in some ancient cultures where people actively move through the landscape.

Exhibitions and Art Shows

Athena LaTocha's art has been shown in many solo and group exhibitions. These shows have been all over the United States. Some places include the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design. Her work has also been at the Weatherspoon Art Museum and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

In 2015, she had a solo show at the CUE Art Foundation in New York. Another solo show in 2017 was called Forces of Nature. It was at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe. For this show, she created a huge ink wash artwork called La Bajada Red. It covered an entire wall from the floor to the ceiling.

In January 2021, her solo exhibition Land Disturbed opened. It was shown at the Olin Fine Arts Center at Washington & Jefferson College. For a big exhibition called Art for a New Understanding (2018-2019), she created Ozark (Shelter in Place). This large wall piece used ink and earth on paper. It was made from impressions of rock faces from a national park.

In December 2020, she was part of the Urban Native Artists exhibition. This show was in New York City. Other artists in the exhibition included Vernon Bigman and Mario Martinez.

Awards and Grants

Athena LaTocha has received many important awards and grants for her art. These awards help artists continue their work.

• Anonymous Was a Woman Award, 2023
• Rockefeller Brothers Fund Pocantico Art Prize in Visual Arts, 2022
• Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art Contemporary Art Fellowship, 2021
• NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Painting, 2021
• Joan Mitchell Foundation grant, 2019 and 2016
• Robert Rauschenberg Foundation grant, 2013