Athena Tacha ( el, Αθηνά Τάχα; born in

Larissa Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capital of the Larissa regiona ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, 1936-), is a multimedia visual artist. She is best known for her work in the fields of

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

public sculpture Public art is art in any media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and physically access ...

and

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...

. She also worked in a wide array of materials including stone, brick, steel, water, plants, and L.E.D. lighting. photography, film, and artists’ books. Tacha's work focused on personal narratives, and often plays with geometry and form.

Early life, education, and academic career

Tacha was born in 1936 in Greece. She received an M.A. in sculpture from the

Athens School of Fine Arts The Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA; el, Ανωτάτη Σχολή Καλών Τεχνών, ΑΣΚΤ, literally: Highest School of Fine Arts), is Greece's premier Art school whose main objective is to develop the artistic talents of its students. ...

in Greece (1959); an M.A. in art history from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

, Oberlin, Ohio (1961); and a Doctorate in aesthetics from the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

in Paris (1963). After her studies, she worked as the curator of modern art at the

Allen Memorial Art Museum The Allen Memorial Art Museum (AMAM) is an art museum located in Oberlin, Ohio, and it is run by Oberlin College. Founded in 1917, the collection contains over 15,000 works of art. Overview The AMAM is primarily a teaching museum and is aimed at ...

, organizing contemporary art exhibitions (including ''Art In The Mind'', 1970). She has published two books and various articles on

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

, Brâncuși, Nadelman and other 20th-century sculptors. From 1973 to 2000, she was a professor of sculpture at Oberlin College. Since 1998, she has been an affiliate of the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...

, and lives in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

Artwork

One of the first artists to develop environmental site-specific sculpture in the early 1970s, Tacha has won over fifty competitions for permanent

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

commissions, of which nearly forty have been executed throughout the U.S. One of these public works was a two-acre sculptural landscape in downtown

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

entitled "Connections," within

Matthias Baldwin Park Matthias Baldwin Park is a public park at 423 North 19th Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1991, the park was dedicated as Franklin Town Park as part of the 50-acre development called Franklin Town. The Franklin Town Development Corpor ...

. She has had six one-artist shows in New York—at the Zabriskie Gallery, the Max Hutchinson Gallery,

Franklin Furnace Franklin Furnace, also known as the Franklin Mine, is a famous mineral location for rare zinc, iron, manganese minerals in old mines in Franklin, New Jersey, United States. This locale produced more species of minerals (over 300) and more differ ...

, the Foundation for Hellenic Studies, and the Kouros Gallery—and has exhibited in numerous group shows throughout the world, including the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

. She produced a body of textual and photographic conceptual works and poetic studies, many of which were published as artist's books.

Athena Tacha's artist books were printed between 1970 and 2005. An interactive online display of the artist books and other printed materials can be found at

Printed Matter, Inc Printed Matter, Inc. is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit grant-supported bookstore, artist organization, and arts space which publishes and distributes artists' books. It is currently located at 231 11th Avenue in the Chelsea neighborhood of N ...

.The pocket books series are small folded books, similar to a zine that were often sold in a plastic sleeve. In ''The Way My Mind Works,'' Tacha writes about her schizophrenic mind, her ruminating mind, her orderly mind. Others in the pocket series examine everyday life. The larger artist books focus on geometry, space, and minimalism. ''A Dictionary of Steps'' displays diagrams of steps. In addition, Tacha explored self portraiture, in works like ''Gestures'' and ''Expressions''.

Exhibitions

In 1989, a retrospective of more than 100 of Tacha's sculptures, drawings and conceptual photographic pieces was held at the

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...

in Atlanta. It included large color photographs of her executed commissions and was accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog, ''Athena Tacha: Public Works, 1970-88'' (introductory essay by John and Catherine Howett). The same year, she had an exhibition of new work, over 50 sculptures and drawings, as well as two large temporary installations, at the

Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, also accompanied by a richly illustrated catalog (with an essay by Thalia Gouma-Peterson). Her most recent museum solo show, ''Small Wonders: New Sculpture and Photoworks'' at the American University's

Katzen Arts Center The Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen Arts Center is home to all of the visual and performing arts programs at American University and the American University Museum It is located at Ward Circle, the intersection of Nebraska Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue ...

, Washington, DC, 2006, had a fully illustrated catalog with essays by Anne Ellegood and Brenda Brown (reinstalled in New York at Kouros Gallery in 2007). Since Tacha moved to Washington, DC, she has had two solo exhibitions at the Marsha Mateyka Gallery (2004 and 2008). A 40-year retrospective (over 100 works), "Athena Tacha: From the Public to the Private," opened at the Contemporary Art Center (

State Museum of Contemporary Art State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

) in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

, Greece, Jan. 16 - April 11, 2010. It presents for the first time all aspects of Tacha's art—from large outdoor commissions, to "body sculptures" and photoworks, to conceptual art and films—with a bilingual catalog (164 pp., 113 color illustrations). It is scheduled travel to Larissa and Athens through 2010.

Tacha's sculptures and photo-works are in many American museums and private collections, including the

Albright-Knox Art Gallery The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum at 1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York, in Delaware Park. the museum's Elmwood Avenue campus is temporarily closed for construction. It hosted e ...

, the

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

, the

Hirshhorn Museum The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was des ...

, the

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art. In 2007, ''Time'' magaz ...

, the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

, and the Agnes Gund Collection.

Latest executed commissions (2001–09)

* ''Victory Plaza'', 2000–02, a plaza with fountains in front of the

American Airlines Center The American Airlines Center (AAC) is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Victory Park neighborhood in downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena serves as the home of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association and the Dallas S ...

(in collaboration with SWA),

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

* ''STOP & GO: to Garrett Augustus Morgan'', 2001–04, a plaza for Metrorail's Morgan Blvd. Station,

* ''Hearts Beat'', 2002–04, a long ceiling of animated LEDs for a sky bridge between Grosvenor Metro station and the Strathmore Music Center, N.

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

. * ''Riding with Sarah and Wayne'', 2004–06, a mile-long trackbed pavement for the Light Rail,

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

’s Business School,

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

* An amphitheater and two fountains for the

Muhammad Ali Center The Muhammad Ali Center is a non-profit museum and cultural center dedicated to boxer Muhammad Ali in Louisville, Kentucky. Ali, a native of Louisville, and his wife Lonnie Ali founded the museum in 2005. The six-story, museum is located in ...

Plaza (ca. 5000 m2), 2002–09, in collaboration with EDAW, AGA and Color Kinetics,

Louisville, KY Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

* A plaza pavement with a ''Light Obelisk Fountain'' in front of Bloomingdale's; an arcade ceiling, ''Light Riggings,'' with RGB animation; and a LED sculpture, '' WWW-Tower'', 2001-09—in collaboration with Arrowstreet Inc., CRJA and Art Display Co. -- for Wisconsin Place, a development at Friendship Heights Metro station,

Books, catalogs, and articles

Books on Tacha's work: *''Athena Tacha: Public Sculpture'' (1982), with introductory essays by Ellen H. Johnson and Theodore Wolff *''Forms of Chaos: Drawings by Athena Tacha'' (1988) *Elizabeth McClelland, ''Cosmic Rhythms: Athena Tacha's Public Sculpture'' (1998), in conjunction with an exhibition of the same title at the

Beck Center for the Arts Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood, Ohio, is a non-profit, performing arts and arts education organization. It is the largest theater and arts center An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre ...

in Cleveland *''Dancing in the Landscape: The Sculpture of Athena Tacha'' (2000), with an introduction by Harriet Senie and over 200 color reproductions. *''Visualizing the Universe. Athena Tacha's Proposals for Public Art Commissions, 1972-2012'' (2017), ed. Richard E. Spear, introduction by Glenn Harper and Twylene Moyer. *''Fifty Years Inside an Artist's Mind: The Journal of Athena Tacha'' (2020), 780 pp., edited with introduction by Richard E. Spear, Washington, D.C., 2020, . *Richard E. Spear, ''The Art of Athena Tacha. A Complete Catalogue'' (2022), 200 pp., introduction by Syrago Tsiara, Washington, D.C. . Main solo exhibition catalogs: *''Athena Tacha: Public Works, 1970-88'' (2009), with an introductory essay by Catherine M. Howett and John Howett,

, Atlanta, GA *''Athena Tacha: New Works, 1986-89'' (1989),

, with an introductory essay by Thalia Gouma-Peterson *''Athena Tacha: Small Wonders - New Sculptures and Photoworks'' (2006), with introductory essays by Anne Ellegood and Brenda Brown, American University Museum, Katzen Arts Center, Washington, DC, Sept.6-Oct.29, 2006 *''Athena Tacha: From Public to Private'' (2010), a bilingual catalogue for a traveling 40-year retrospective, with essays by Katerina Koskina and Syrago Tsiara, CACT (State Museum of Modern Art), Thessaloniki, Greece Several of Tacha's New York exhibitions have illustrated catalogues -- ''Massacre Memorials'' (Max Hutchinson, 1984), with an essay by

Lucy Lippard Lucy Rowland Lippard (born April 14, 1937) is an American writer, art critic, activist, and curator. Lippard was among the first writers to argue for the " dematerialization" at work in conceptual art and was an early champion of feminist art. S ...

; ''Vulnerability: New Fashions'' (Franklin Furnace, 1994), a conceptual art piece critiquing the fashion industry; and ''Athena Tacha: Shields and Universes'' (Foundation for Hellenic Culture, 2001). The most extensive articles on Tacha's art have appeared in ''Landscape Architecture'' (May 1978 & March 2007), ''

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notabl ...

'' (Jan. 1981), ''Arts Magazine'' (Oct. 1988), ''

Art News ''ARTnews'' is an American visual-arts magazine, based in New York City. It covers art from ancient to contemporary times. ARTnews is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. It has a readership of 180,000 in 124 countri ...

'' (Sept. 1991) and ''

Sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

'' (June 1987, Nov. 2000 and October 2006).

References

External links

Athena Tacha official WebsiteOutdoor sculptures in Ohio
Sculpturecenter.org

*The ttp://www2.hsp.org/collections/manuscripts/t/Tacha3518.html Athena Tacha papers consisting mostly of early correspondence, education materials, publications, and artwork, are available for research use at the

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a long-established research facility, based in Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chronicles, maps, press reports and v ...

* Archives of American Ar

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tacha, Athena 1936 births Living people People from Larissa Greek emigrants to the United States Greek artists Oberlin College alumni University of Paris alumni American contemporary artists Postmodern artists Artists from Washington, D.C. Photographers from Washington, D.C. Greek women photographers 21st-century photographers 20th-century American women photographers 20th-century American photographers 21st-century American women photographers 21st-century American photographers 21st-century American women