Christine Tarkowski
{{short description|American sculptor}}{{Infobox artist
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| name = Christine Tarkowski
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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1967}}
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| nationality = American
| education = Fashion Institute of Technology, Parsons School of Design, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
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| known_for = Sculpture and Installation art
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| awards = {{awd|Creative Capital Visual Arts award|2001}} {{awd|Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Individual Artist Award|2005}}
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| website = [http://christinetarkowski.com/ christinetarkowski.com]
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Christine Tarkowski (born 1967) is an American sculptor and installation artist. Through her art, she explores the impact of the built environment (including architecture and textile technologies) on the natural environment.{{Cite web |last=Lopes |first=Nicholas |date=27 February 2017 |title=Down the Drain |url=https://www.cooperhewitt.org/2017/02/27/down-the-drain/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230929125859/https://www.cooperhewitt.org/2017/02/27/down-the-drain/ |archive-date=29 September 2023 |access-date=3 March 2019 |website=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |language=en-US}}
Life and career
Tarkowski was born in Norwich, Connecticut, but now lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.{{Cite web |date=2005 |title=Working on the Failed Utopia |url=https://www.govst.edu/uploadedfiles/about/nathan_manilow_sculpture_park/the_collection/pdfs-images-collection/failed_utopia.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205232502/https://www.govst.edu/uploadedfiles/about/nathan_manilow_sculpture_park/the_collection/pdfs-images-collection/failed_utopia.pdf |archive-date=5 February 2023 |access-date=7 April 2024 |website=Governors State University}} After studying textile design at the Fashion Institute of Technology, she earned her BFA at the Parsons School of Design in New York City in 1989 and her MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, IL in 1992."Christine Tarkowski." ArtSlant. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2014. In addition to her work as an artist, Christine has been an associate professor in the Fiber and Material Studies department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago since 2003.{{Cite web |title=Christine Tarkowski - Professor |url=https://www.saic.edu/profiles/faculty/christine-tarkowski |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240407203621/https://www.saic.edu/profiles/faculty/christine-tarkowski |archive-date=7 April 2024 |access-date=7 April 2024 |website=School of the Art Institute of Chicago |language=en}} In 2001, she received a Creative Capital Visual Arts award{{Cite web |date=2001 |title=Stacking Logics |url=https://creative-capital.org/projects/stacking-logics/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201171010/https://creative-capital.org/projects/stacking-logics/ |archive-date=1 December 2023 |access-date=7 April 2024 |website=Creative Capital |language=en}} and in 2005, she received a Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Individual Artist Award.{{Cite web |date=2008 |title=Three Year Report 2005–2007 - Individual Artist Awards |url=http://www.driehausfoundation.org/site_media/annual-reports/DF-2005-2007.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107003300/http://www.driehausfoundation.org/site_media/annual-reports/DF-2005-2007.pdf |archive-date=7 November 2014 |access-date=29 October 2014 |website=The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation |page=29 |language=en}}
Works
She has exhibited significant solo and group shows, including the exhibition titled, Last Things Will Be First and First Things Will be Last that was on display at the Chicago Cultural Center from January 29 - May 2, 2010.{{Cite web |last=Stoepel |first=Whitney |date=13 April 2010 |title=Christine Tarkowski at The Chicago Cultural Center |url=http://gapersblock.com/ac/2010/04/13/christine-tarkowski-at-the-chicago-cultural-center/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011214940/http://gapersblock.com/ac/2010/04/13/christine-tarkowski-at-the-chicago-cultural-center/ |archive-date=11 October 2017 |access-date=7 April 2024 |website=Gapers Block}} In this piece, as with many of Tarkowski’s works, there was the incorporation of a geodesic dome, which she uses as a symbol for the failed utopia.{{Cite web |last=Snodgrass |first=Susan |date=11 September 2010 |title=Christine Tarkowski |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/aia-reviews/christine-tarkowski-60657/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240407210717/https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/aia-reviews/christine-tarkowski-60657/ |archive-date=7 April 2024 |access-date=29 October 2014 |website=Art in America |language=en-US}} The utopian impulse of modernism and its failure is a recurring theme in her work, manifesting through transformed and mimicked urban materials like wallpaper, industrial siding, and trash.{{Cite book |last=Hixson |first=Kathryn |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sOB0c2fgMWkC&q=christine+tarkowski&pg=PA103 |title=306090 09: Regarding Public Space |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |year=2005 |isbn=9781568985442 |editor-last=Benites |editor-first=Cecilia |series=306090 |volume=09 |location=New York |pages=103–5 |language=en |chapter=Response to Christine Tarkowski's Working on the failed utopia |oclc=61129653 |editor-last2=Lyster |editor-first2=Clare |via=Google Books}}
She has worked with many other established artists including Drew Beattie, Aidas Bareikis, and Jules de Balincourt. They were all invited to contribute to a music video and exhibition piece called, Can’t Stop Rock Lobster created by Shoot the Lobster art gallery in New York City. The exhibit ran from June 19–30, 2012.{{Cite web |date=2012 |title=Can't Stop Rock Lobster |url=https://www.shootthelobster.com/cant-stop-rock-lobster |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230319225451/https://www.shootthelobster.com/cant-stop-rock-lobster |archive-date=19 March 2023 |access-date=7 April 2024 |website=Shoot the Lobster |language=en-US}}
References
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Category:20th-century American sculptors
Category:Parsons School of Design alumni
Category:School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni