Tanya Aguiñiga facts for kids

Tanya Aguiñiga was born in 1978 in San Diego, California. She is an amazing Los Angeles-based artist, designer, and activist.

Early Life and Learning

Even though Tanya was born in the United States, she grew up in Tijuana, Mexico. From age 4 to 18, she traveled across the border every day to go to school in San Diego. This daily trip greatly influenced her later art and work.

She earned a degree in Applied Design from San Diego State University. Later, she got a master's degree in furniture design from the Rhode Island Institute 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, mixing modern design with old craft methods and activism. She uses natural materials like beeswax, wool, and even human hair. With these, she creates furniture, fabrics, things you can wear, sculptures, and art made for specific places.

Besides furniture and jewelry, she also creates large woven pieces. These are made from materials like jute, wool, silk, and cotton. She leads a team of mostly female assistants who help her make big woven wall hangings for special orders.

Tanya's work has been shown in many places. It was featured on the PBS series Craft in America. She also had a special exhibit at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in 2011. The famous fashion designer Ulla Johnson even asked Tanya to create a piece for her shop in New York.

In 2018, Tanya had a solo 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. AMBOS 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 project aims to show and record the feelings of people living on both sides of the border through art.

Her art was also part of the Disrupting Craft: Renwick Invitational 2018 show. This was at the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery.

In 2021, Tanya Aguiñiga won the 26th Annual Heinz Award for the Arts.

In 2022, Tanya helped lead a special event at the Frieze Los Angeles called the BIPOC Exchange. It focused on social justice.

Also in 2022, Tanya was named a Latinx Artists Fellow. This fellowship gives artists $50,000 to support their work. It was funded by the Ford Foundation and the Mellon Foundation.

Tanya's art was also shown at The Armory Show in 2022. Her artwork, Metabolizing the Border, was bought by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. It became part of the Renwick Gallery's 50th Anniversary collection.

Activism and Community Work

Tanya Aguiñiga is known for her "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 life experiences in her art. She helps communities create art together. She has led art projects that support important causes. These include the Border Art Workshop/Taller de Arte Fronterizo in Maclovio Rojas, Mexico.

Another big project is AMBOS (Art Made Between Opposite Sides). This project stretches across the entire US-Mexico border. It tries to record the feelings of people who cross the border every day. It also gives a voice to artists from both countries.

Art Collections

Tanya Aguiñiga's work can be found in important art collections, including:

• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art

See also

In Spanish: Tanya Aguiñiga para niños