Biography

The creation of Tanis Maria S'eiltin's art is informed by her rich Tlingit heritage and a philosophy that is in constant flux. She was born into a family of artists and her mother, Maria Miller, was an exceptional skin-sewer and master weaver of Chilkat Robes. Tanis states that her "formal art training began at home."
Tanis received a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. However, it was in graduate school at the University of Arizona in Tucson where her political voice and unique aesthetic sensibility culminated.
Artistic statements of resistance and hope that reference the impact of Western colonization are evident in her installations, videos, prints and a recent series of non-functional handbags titled "Savage Apparel." She is a 2005 recipient of the Eiteljorg Fellowship from the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis, Indiana. Tanis' primary goal as an artist is to make art that matters; "I strive to create art that is aesthetically beautiful and informative, the goal is to encourage dialogue and raise awareness."

 

Interest Areas

Alaska Native and Native American History and Sovereignty; Cultural Appropriation, Race and Equality; Modern Art History; Summers with family in Colorado and Alaska

 

Selected Exhibitions

• "Hit", Combined Media Installation, 2006 - 2008
  C.N. Gorman Museum, University of California Davis
  McMaster University Museum of Art, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
  Bunnell Street Gallery, Homer, Alaska
• "Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 2", 2006 - 2007
  Museum of Arts & Design, New York, NY
  Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Anchorage, Alaska
• "Into the Fray", 2005
  Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis, Indiana

 

 

Links

• A local Native American Art website: Ebuynativeart.com