Tacoma Art Museum has announced programming and the first artist in residence for its annual recognition program The Current, An Artist Award. During the residency, award recipient Kristina Batiste, a Tacoma-based potter, will be creating new work at TAM through May 3.
On Wednesdays and Fridays, quiet viewing will offer a peek in from outside the studio to see Batiste at work. The Current, An Artist Award also presents programs and workshops to empower artists on their creative journey. On April 24, 3-4 p.m., artists can have professional photos taken at The Current, An Artist Award: Headshots and Images Workshop in TAM’s Cheney Classroom. On May 22, 1-2:30 p.m., also in the Cheney Classroom, The Current, An Artist Award: Public Art Informational will bring a program led by Ricky Reyes, Public Art Project Manager for the City of Tacoma. This twice-monthly video series features committee members and artists of The Current, An Artist Award sharing about select works in TAM’s permanent collection.
Batiste is a minimalist potter and ceramic artist. Prior to ceramics, she worked as a writer and editor, in graphic design, and higher education, and is currently a part-time librarian. The through line of her career has been a focus on distilling information into simple, memorable forms and ruthless editing. Age, gender, and experience inform her practice, and inspirations include modernist art and architecture, literature, and nature. She loves a line, and will someday pick a favorite between porcelain, red, brown, buff, and black clay. Batiste has been featured in “Black American Ceramic Artists” published by Schiffer, an article in Ceramics Monthly, and was the subject of a segment in Hulu’s “Your Attention Please” documentary series. She is also the co-founder of the Tacoma Pottery Salon, a mostly monthly gathering of potters. Learn more about Batiste and her work at juniper-clay.com.
The Current is an annual, unrestricted award providing financial and institutional support to a Black artist living and working in the Tacoma area. In recognition of artistic excellence and future promise, the awardee receives a $15,000 unrestricted gift. Additionally, the awardee has the option of receiving various forms of support from the institution: all would include the full support of the museum’s facilities, staff expertise, and labor. This dual investment champions the awardee directly and proliferates resources for the artist’s community, providing resources and strengthening networks that make creating art easier for Black artists.
Like its name, The Current flows with the gravitational pull of our community’s voice. To continually reinvent and reimagine, TAM constantly re-engages in the process and its commitments to artists and the community. The Current is an opportunity to honor the ongoing contributions of Black artists in the South Sound by generating recognition, providing connectivity, and strengthening our region’s creative ecology.
The Current is designed and carried out by Victoria Miles, Artist Award Manager at Tacoma Art Museum. Direct collaboration and thought partnerships play a significant role in the award’s goal of centering Black artists and community members. In fall 2021, Miles convened a collaborative committee of five regional Black artists and arts administrators to guide the development of the program. In July 2022, the committee convened a selection jury who announced sculpture artist and designer Darrel McKinney as the inaugural recipient of The Current in November 2022.
More details can be found at tacomaartmuseum.org/artist-residency.
