Tanya Aguiñiga facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tanya Aguiñiga
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| Born | 1978 |
| Known for | craft, design, furniture, textile arts, sculpture, site-specific art |
| Awards | United States Artists Target Fellow in the field of Crafts and Traditional Arts; National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures and Creative Capital Grant Awardee; 2018 Johnson Fellowship for Artists Transforming Communities |
Tanya Aguiñiga, born in 1978 in San Diego, California, is a talented artist, designer, and activist living in Los Angeles. She is known for her unique art that often combines modern design with traditional craft techniques and important social messages.
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Early Life and Learning
Even though Tanya was born in the United States, she spent her childhood living in Tijuana, Mexico. From when she was 4 until she was 18, she traveled for several hours every day across the border to go to school in San Diego. This daily journey greatly influenced her later life and the art she creates.
After high school, she earned a bachelor's degree in Applied Design from San Diego State University. She then went on to get a master's degree in furniture design from the Rhode Island School of Design.
Art and Design Career
Tanya Aguiñiga started designing furniture in 1997 while she was still in college. Her first design job was working behind the scenes for a TV show called Freeform Furniture.
Throughout her career, Tanya's art has taken many forms. It often focuses on textiles, which are fabrics and woven materials. She blends modern design with traditional crafting methods and uses her art to speak about important issues.
Tanya uses a variety of natural materials, from beeswax to wool and even human hair. She creates furniture, textiles, clothing, sculptures, and special art pieces made for specific locations. Besides designing furniture and jewelry, she also makes large woven hangings using materials like jute, wool, silk, and cotton. She works with a team of mostly female assistants to create these big art pieces.
Tanya's work has been shown in many places, including the PBS series Craft in America. In 2011, she had a special exhibition at the Craft and Folk Art Museum. A famous Fashion designer named Ulla Johnson even asked Tanya to create a piece for her shop in New York.
In 2016, Tanya's piece "Teetering of the Marginal" was part of an art show called 3 Women. This show was inspired by a 1977 movie with the same name.
From May to October 2018, Tanya had her own art show at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. It was called "Tanya Aguiñiga: Craft and Care." A big part of this show was her project called AMBOS, which stands for "Art Made Between Opposite Sides." This project explores what life is like on the Mexican-American border. In Spanish, "ambos" means "both." The goal of AMBOS is to show and record the feelings of people living on both sides of the border through art. Her work was also featured in an exhibition called Disrupting Craft: Renwick Invitational 2018 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery.
In 2021, Tanya received the 26th Annual Heinz Award for the Arts, which is a very important award. In early 2022, she led a special event focused on social justice at the Frieze Los Angeles.
Tanya Aguiñiga was also named a Latinx Artists Fellow in 2022, along with fourteen other artists. This fellowship provides money to support artists of Latin American and Caribbean descent. Her work was also shown at The Armory Show in 2022.
Her artwork, Metabolizing the Border, was bought by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. This was part of a special campaign for the Renwick Gallery's 50th Anniversary.
Activism Through Art
Tanya Aguiñiga uses her art to bring attention to important social issues. She has done several "performance crafting" events. For example, she once tied herself to the Beverly Hills sign and wove fabric while wearing traditional Mexican clothes.
Because she grew up on the U.S./Mexico border, Tanya uses her own experiences to create art that brings communities together. She leads art projects that help people speak up about issues. These include the Border Art Workshop/Taller de Arte Fronterizo in Maclovio Rojas, Mexico. She also created AMBOS (Art Made Between Opposite Sides), which stretches along the entire US-Mexico border. This project aims to record the feelings of people who cross the border and gives a voice to artists from both countries.
Art Collections
Tanya Aguiñiga's artwork can be found in important art collections, including:
See also
In Spanish: Tanya Aguiñiga para niños
