Tanja Softić

Statement and C.V.

 

Most people are principally aware of one culture, one setting, one home; exiles are aware of at least two, and this plurality of vision gives rise to an awareness of simultaneous dimensions, an awareness that—to borrow a phrase from music—is contrapuntal…. For an exile, habits of life, expression or activity in the new environment inevitably occur against the memory of those things in another environment.  Thus both the new and the old environments are vivid, actual, occurring together contrapuntally."

(Edward Said, On Exile)

The Migrant Universe series is a visual poem about identity and worldview of an immigrant: exile, longing, translation, and memory. An immigrant to United States from Bosnia, once part of Yugoslavia, I am fascinated by questions of cultural identity or cultural belonging on an intellectual level but I experience and feel what Edward Said called "the contrapuntal reality [of an exile]" very acutely:  I have transitioned through three citizenships in addition to one period of being a citizen of no country.  In both my new and old countries, outdated notions of national and ethnic identity and belonging continue to shape the politics and the society.

The visual vocabulary of Migrant Universe drawings suggests a displaced existence: fragmented memories, adaptation, revival, and transformation.  Because I do not live and work within the comfort or boundaries of the culture in which I first learned to observe, interpret and engage the world, I have the arguable privilege of having lived more than one life.  My memory is my virtual self and, paradoxically, my most authentic self.  Yet, memory is a process that involves erosions and accretions that occur with any reconstructive, interpretative or artistic act. One re-connects that which has been broken, fragmented or overlaid.  Re-membering becomes an act of reconstruction, where one works with what is there and tries to visualize what has been lost. 

Because each act of memorization necessarily involves interpretation, there can be no objective recollection.  Nor is there full erasure; like matter, memory seems to persist by transforming.  

The images in Migrant Universe suggest what Said called "an awareness of simultaneous dimensions."  For example, maps and star charts speak of conventional interpretations of scale and distance, their fidelity assured only within accepted systems of perceiving and organizing of space.  I am interested in what they may become, layered upon each other in visual conversations with other elements in the drawing.  In Migrant Universe, the drawings function as re-arrangeable continuum of maps, landscapes and portraits of memory and identity.

Migrant Universe will be exhibited in the University of Richmond's Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art from Aug. 20 to Oct. 6, 2014. Museum website: http://museums.richmond.edu/

Artist's website: http://tanjasoftic.com
 

 
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2015 New Works on Paper, Turchin Center for the Arts, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.
2014 Migrant Universe, University Museums, University of Richmond, Virginia.  
  Migrant Universe, University Galleries, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts. 
2013 Migrant Universe, Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia.
  Tanja Softić: Works on Paper, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia.
2012 Tanja Softić:  Recent Prints and Works on Paper, Huntington Museum of Art, WV.  
2011 Migrant Universe, Halsey Institute for Contemporary Art, College of Charleston, South Carolina.
2007 Inflorescence, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Steinhardt Conservatory Gallery, Brooklyn, New York.
  Works on Paper, Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
2004 Recent Work, Lee Scarfone Gallery, University of Tampa, Florida.
  Graphia, Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia, Athens.
2003 Paintings and Prints, Sylvia Schmidt Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana.
  Works on Paper, Art Gallery, The College of Saint Rose, Albany, New York.
  Bloom, Reynolds Gallery, Richmond, Virginia.
2001 Memory Folios, Virginia Center for Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, Virginia.
2000 Works on Paper, Marsh Gallery, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia.
  Memory Folios, Sarratt Gallery, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.
  Prints, Kathy Caraccio Studio Gallery, New York.
1999 Tanja Softić: Grafiche e Libri, Scuola Internazionale di Grafica di Venezia, Venice Italy.
  Cataloging Memory, L.I.P.A. Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1994 Tanja Softić, Painter and Printmaker, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida

SELECTED TWO AND THREE PERSON EXHIBITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS

2003 Collected Evidence, Newton Art Center, Newton, Massachusetts (with Phylis McGibbon and Therese Zemlin).
1998 Bi-cultural Identities (with Hung Liu and Hoang Van Bui), Dunedin Fine Arts Center, Florida.
1997 Crossings (with Thomas Koole), Galerija Mak, Sarajevska Zima (Sarajevo Winter Festival) Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2013 Deprintation: Art in Exile, Southern Graphics Conference, University of San Francisco, California.
  Director's Choice, Art and Art History Museums, Maitland, Florida. 
  Winging It, K. Caraccio Printing Studio, New York.  
2012 4 Perspectives: Becoming MPA, curated by Deborah McLeod, Andrea Pollan, Sarah Tanguy and Nancy Sausser. McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, Virginia.  
  Winter's Ink, curated by Andrew Blanchard, Southside Gallery, Oxford, Mississippi. 
  Sargasso Sea Scrolls, a Collaborative Project, Washington Printmakers Gallery, Washington, D.C. Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute, Pembroke, Bermuda. 
2011 Pattern Matters, Monash University, part of IMPACT7 International Interdisciplinary Print Conference, Victoria, Australia. 
  Tamarind at 50, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Oregon. 
2010 Tamarind at 50, University of Mew Mexico Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico
2009 China Sanbao International Printmaking Exhibition, Jingdezhen, China. Curated by Minna Resnick, Printmaker, Ithaca, New York and Jiangseng Li, President of Sanbao Ceramic Art Institute.
  6th Novosibirsk International Graphic Biennial, Novosibirsk State Art Museum, Novosibirsk, Russia.U.S. entries curated by Carson Fox, independent artist and curator, Brooklyn, New York.   
  MATRIX/ Printmaking 2009, Florida State University Museum of Art, Tallahassee, Florida.  Curated by Joe Sanders, Chair of the Art Department at FSU.
2008 Printmaking Now,  Strohl Gallery, Chautaqua Institution, Chautaqua, New York.
  Drawing Beyond the Plane, Tampa Museum of Art, Florida.  Curated by Elaine Gustafson,  Curator of Contemporary Art, TMA.  
2007 Continuum: Innovative Prints from Pyramid Atlantic, 1992-2007, Pyramid Atlantic Gallery, Silver Spring, Maryland. Curated by Katherine L. Blood, Curator of Prints for Library of Congress.  
2006 SCALE, A National Drawing Invitational, Tower Fine Arts Gallery, SUNY College at Brockport, New York. Four Printmakers (with Hung Liu, Karen Kunc, Renee Stout), Washington Printmakers Gallery, Washington, D.C.  Curated by Katherine L. Blood, Curator of Prints, Library of Congress and Eric Denker, curator of Prints and Drawings, Corcoran Gallery.
2005 Collaboration as a Medium:  25 Years of Pyramid Atlantic, Edison Gallery, Washington, D.C.  
  American Prints in Troubled Times, American University in Cairo, Egypt. 
  Select III:  Washington Project for the Arts/Corcoran Art Auction, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.  Curated by N. Elizabeth Schlatter, Associate Director, University of Richmond Museums, Virginia.
2004 Meridian/Meridien, Prints by Members of the One/Off Group, Atelier Circulaire, Montreal, Canada. 
  Sensory Experience Portfolio, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
  Botanical Imagery in Contemporary Prints, Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
  The Fourth Minnesota National Print Biennial, Catherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Juried by Siri Engberg, Curator of Prints, Walker Art Center and Marjorie Devon, Director, Tamarind Institute for Lithography.
  Biennial 2004, Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport News, Virginia. Juried by Carrie Przybilia, Curator of Contemporary Art, High Museum of Art, Atlanta.
2003 International Print Triennial – Krakow 2003, Contemporary Art Gallery––Palace of Art, Krakow, Poland (juried)
  New Directions in American Art, Sheldon Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, Lincoln, Nebraska. Curated by Janice Driesbach, Director of the Sheldon Art Gallery.
2002 The 5th Kochi International Triennial Exhibition of Prints, Ino-cho Paper Museum, Kochi, Japan. Juried by Hisae Fujii, art critic, Tadayoshi Nakabayashi, Professor of Printmaking at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and Masanori Kagioka, Director of the Kochi Museum of Art. First Place Award for Architecture of Thought, an etching.
2001 Kings, Hummingbirds and Monsters:  Artist's Books at Evergren, Johns Hopkins University, Evergreen House, Baltimore, Maryland.  Curated by Cynthia Kelly, Curator of Exhibitions at Evergreen House.
  Life Forms (Carol Brown, Scott Chamberlin, John Hawthorne, Tanja Softić).  Hand Workshop Art Center, Richmond, Virginia.  Curated by Ashley Kistler, Director of Exhibitions, Hand Workshop Art Center.
2000 International Print Triennial, Cracow, Intergrafia – World Award Winners Gallery, Katowice, Poland (juried).
  The 5th Sapporo International Print Bienale, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan (juried).
  You Cannot Go Home Again:  Exiled Artists in the United States, Philadelphia Arts Alliance, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (juried).
1999 Deutsche Internationale Grafik-Triennale Frechen, Kunstverein zu Frechen, Germany (juried).
1998 1st Northern Ireland International Small Print Exhibition.  Townhouse Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland (juried).
  Grafinnova Triennial of Prints and Drawings, Ostrobothnian Museum, Vaasa, Finland (juried).
1997 Body Politics, The Carroll Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, Art Gallery.  The University of Stellenbosh, Stellenbosh, South Africa.
  1996-97 Florida Visual Art Fellowship Exhibition.  Terrace Gallery, City Hall, Orlando.  Center for the Arts, Vero Beach.  Florida Gulf Coast Center, Belleair.  Walton Community College, Niceville.  Key West Art & Historical Society, Key West, Florida (curated and shown in five venues around the state).
  Southern Arts Federation/ National Endowment for the Arts 1996 Fellowship Exhibition.  Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA), Winston-Salem, North Carolina (curated).
1996 The 3rd Sapporo International Print Bienalle, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan (juried).

 

SELECTED GRANTS AND AWARDS

2012 Theresa Pollak Award for Excellence in Visual Arts, Richmond, Virginia.  
2009 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant.
  Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Professional Artist Fellowship in Drawing.
2008 Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Creative Fellowship, Virginia Center for Creative Arts.
2004 Painting Fellowship, Virginia Commission for the Arts, Richmond, Virginia.
2002 First Prize, The 5th Kochi International Triennial Exhibition of Prints, Ino-cho Paper Museum, Kochi, Japan.
1997 Open Society Fund—Bosnia and Herzegovina/Soros Foundation, Exhibition Support Grant.
1996 Southern Arts Federation/National Endowment for the Arts 1996-97 Visual Artist Fellowship.

 

SELECTED RESIDENCIES AND PRINT PUBLICATIONS

2009 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Briar, Virginia.  Six-week residency to work on"Migrant Universe" drawings.
  Hartford School of Art, Connecticut.  One week residency and a publication of a series of computer print and offsett lithography monoprints.
2007 Anderson Ranch Center for the Arts, Patton Print Studio, Snowmass Village, Colorado.  Two-week residency and a publication of a mixed-media print.
2006 Tamarind Institute for Lithography, Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Two-week residency and a publication of a lithograph.
  Flying Horse Press, University of Central Florida.  Two-week residency and a publication of a mixed-media print.
2005 Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass, Colorado.  Two-week residency to work on a series of drawings.
2002 Ucross Foundation, Ucross, Wyoming.  One-month residency to work on a series of paintings.
1999 Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, Venice, Italy. 3-month residency.  
1998 Pyramid Atlantic, Center for Paper, Print and Book Arts, Riverdale, Maryland.  2 week studio residency.  
  MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire.  Six-week residency granted to work on a series of drawings and prints.

 

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Atlanta College of Art and Design, Atlanta, Georgia.
Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand.
Boston Public Library's Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection, Boston, Massachusetts.
Cornell Museum of Fine Arts, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida.
Ino-Cho Paper Museum, Kochi, Japan.
International Center for Peace, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
New York Public Library, New York City
Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
Johannes Stegman Art Gallery, University of the Orange Free State, South Africa.

 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

2008 Schlatter, N. Elizabeth. Museum Careers: A Practical Guide for Students and Novices. Left Coast Press, San Francisco, 2008. Drawing reproduced on the cover.
2002 McLaren, Margaret A.  Feminism, Foucault, and Embodied Subjectivity.  State University of New York Press, Albany, New York, 2002. Print reproduced on the cover of the book.
2001 Anderson, Beth.  The Habitable World, Instance Press, Boston, Massachusetts, 2001.  Drawing reproduced on the cover of the book.
  Matthews, David.  In the Dark Time/Chaconne, BBC Symphony Orchestra with Jac van Steen conducting, NMC Recordings Ltd., London, 2001. Drawing reproduced on the cover of the CD.

 

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2011 Shapiro, Gary,  "Landscapes of Memory:  Tanja Softić's Migrant Universe", catalog essay for Migrant Universe exhibition, Halsey Institute for Contemporary Art, College of Charleston, 2011.
2009 Leiby, Jeanne, "Tanja Softić", Southern Review,  Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Spring 2009.
  Ryan, Dinah, "Tanja Softić and Holly Morrison at Page Bond Gallery", Art Papers, Atlanta, Georgia, Vol 33, #2, March-April issue, 2009.
  Wurster, Lisa, "Artist in Exile",   Artist Magazine, Cincinnati, Ohio, January/ February issue, 2009.
2004 Dawson, Jessica, "You are Here, Here and Here," The Washington Post, Washington, D.C. May 13, 2004.
2003 Brickman, David, "Dream Logic," Metroland, Albany, New York, November 13, 2003.
  Temin, Christine, "Two Striking Exhibits Show the Power of Prints,"  The Boston Globe, Boston, Massachusetts, March 9, 2003.
  Kinder, Elizabeth, "Bradley's Prime Prints," Peoria Journal-Star, Peoria, Illinois, March 5, 2003.
2002 Nakabayoshi, Tadayoshi, "Exhibition Report: The 5th Kochi International Triennial Exhibition of Prints," TAMA Art Journal, Tokyo, Japan, March 2002.
2001 McLeod, Deborah, "Tanja Softić at the Marsh Gallery," Art Papers, Atlanta, Georgia, Vol 25, #3, May-June issue, page 42, 2001.
2000 Schlegel, Amy Ingrid, "You Can't Go Home Again:  The Art of Exile," NY Arts—International Edition, Volume 5, No. 2, 2000.
1999 Michael O'Sullivan, "Ten Best Shows of 1999," The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., December 24, 1999.
1998 Allen, Lynne and McGibbon, Phyllis, The Best of Printmaking, Rockport Publishers Inc, 1998, Quarry Books, Gloucester, Massachusetts.
1996 Cullum, Jerry, Southern Arts Federation/National Endowment for the Arts 1996 Visual Artist Fellowship Catalog, Southern Arts Federation, Atlanta, Georgia.
1995 Stewart, Laura.  "Tanja Softić at the Cornell Fine Arts Museum," Art Papers, January 1995.
1994 McGreevy, Linda.  "Tanja Softić and the Dread of History," The SECAC Review, 1994.

 

EDUCATION

1988

Academy of Fine Arts of the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, B.F.A.
1992 Old Dominion University/Norfolk State University, Norfolk, Virginia, M.F.A.

 

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

2009-
pres.		 Professor of Art, Department of Art and Art History, University of Richmond.  Areas of teaching expertise:  printmaking, drawing, book arts.
2010-
2013		 Chair, Department of Art and Art History, University of Richmond.
2000-
2009		 Associate Professor of Art, University of Richmond.
1998-
2000 		Associate Professor of Art and Department Chair, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida.
1992-
1998.		 Assistant Professor of Art, Rollins College.