ARTIST BIO

Anna Tsouhlarakis (Navajo/Creek/Greek) was born in Lawrence, Kansas and graduated from high school in Taos, NM. In 1999 she received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College in Native American Studies and Studio Art. She then attended Yale University and received her Masters of Fine Arts degree in 2002. She was an art resident at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in the summer of 2002. Currently, she is the Chair of the Art Department at The Browning School in New York City. Her work consists of various media including sculpture, installation, video and performance art.

Oral histories are of vital importance to Native peoples, but so much of the time these histories are only about anthropomorphic animals or fallen leaders. Anna believes that Native people sometimes fail to realize the growing nature of modern Native stories and the fact that they can eventually become legend. Legend may be something that takes place over several generations or maybe it can be something that happens over a shorter amount of time. In Legend #1 and Legend #3, she uses digital photography as a documentation of performances. These photographs are from a suite of work that deals with the birth of urban myths and legends. Duct tape has created many urban legends in our Native communities, so she recreated various scenes that push those ideas to the extreme. Navagation is a digital video of a performance done in Maine while she was at the Skowhegan School in the summer of 2002. Using her innate sense of “Indian” direction she guided herself while blindfolded ¾ of a mile from one point to another. The image shown is a compilation of nine stills from the video. Let’s Dance! is a digital video that documents the artist dancing with different people each day for a duration of 30 days. This piece is a reflection of the role of “educator” that Natives tend to play when in contact with other cultures. A compilation of four video stills is shown.

Anna’s work has been exhibited nationally in many galleries and museums. She has upcoming exhibitions at the American Indian Community House Gallery in New York, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, AZ.

Education

M.F.A. 2002 Yale University
1999 New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting, & Sculpture
B.A. 1999 Dartmouth College
1998 American University in Perugia, Italy

Artist Residencies

2002 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Skowhegan, ME.

Fellowships/Awards

2002 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Fellowship
Yale University-Skowhegan Fellowship
2001 Di Modolo Award, Worldstudio Foundation
American Indian Graduate Center Fellowship
Sussman Fellowship
Catching the Dream Fellowship
Massachusetts Indian Association Fellowship
2000 Indigenous Peoples Award, Worldstudio Foundation
American Indian Graduate Center Fellowship
Massachusetts Indian Association Fellowship
1995 R.C. Gorman Award

Exhibitions & Bibliography

2005
Fixations. Downtown Contemporary Art Center
2004
Albuquerque Contemporary 2004. Albuquerque Museum. Albuquerque, NM. Juried Exhibition. Juror: Gronk. (catalogue)
*Received Juror’s Choice Award and three Merit Awards..
2003
2003 Visual Arts Faculty Exhibition. Albuquerque Academy. Albuquerque, NM. Group Exhibition.
All Together Now. Rush Arts Gallery. New York, NY. Group Exhibition.
2002
2002 L.C. Bates Museum. Hinkley, ME. Group Exhibition.
Pause. Thesis Exhibition. New Haven, CT. Group Exhibition.
2001
MFA 2002 Exhibition. New Haven, CT. Group Exhibition.
Bright Ideas 2001. Worldstudio Foundation, New York Design Center. New York, NY. Group Exhibition.
2000
First-Year Exhibition. New Haven, CT. Group Exhibition.
Make Time 2000. Worldstudio Foundation, New York Design Center. New York, NY. Group Exhibition.
1999
1999 Holiday Show. The New York Studio School. New York, NY.
Group Exhibition.
Santa Fe Indian Market. Santa Fe, NM. Exhibitor.
Thesis Show. Jaffe-Friede Gallery, The Hopkins Center. Hanover, NH. Group Exhibition.
1998
The Stonefence Review. Vol. XVIII, No. 1. Pg. 19.
Agosto Corcianese Festival. Corciano, Italy. Group Exhibition.
Women of Color Artists: Celebrating Ourselves Thru Art. Cambridge, MA. Group Exhibition.