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BIO: Born in 1973, Tonya Balik grew up in Decorah, IA and moved to Minneapolis in 1992 to attend the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and spent the next decade working with photographers before completing her BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Stout in 2006. After receiving her MFA from the University of Minnesota in 2010, she returned to her roots in northeast Iowa. It is her childhood here in Iowa that informs her current projects—the place where, as a child, her grandmothers taught her to sew, crochet, and knit; all techniques that she continues to use in her work.
ARTIST STATEMENT: My work as an artist involves a wide range of materials that attempt to capture the ephemeral – the often over-looked fleeting elements of daily life. The techniques I use vary from traditional drawing and painting to mixed media, experiments in photography and traditional women’s crafts including quilting, sewing, crocheting and knitting. At present, I am using found materials, colors and imagery from childhood. I use these visual records as references to specific times and places. The process of first discover and then creating this work has become meditative; a way to both collect and release secrets, thoughts and fears.