Tyna Ontko

Tyna Ontko is a Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate of Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, where she received the Outstanding Graduate of the Fine Arts Department Award. Her body of work consists of hand-printed editions which are then cut out, and re-assembled in mass, forming site-specific installations which develop and change over time. She recently attended a residency at Pratt Fine Arts Center, Seattle working toward an installation titled Heavy handed. This work was recently shown at Davidson Galleries as part of the exhibition Cut from the same cloth. Tyna is part of the printmakers collaborative, Print Zero Studios in the Inscape Arts Complex. She will be attending a three-month residency at the Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center in Silver Spring, MD, in October 2014.

Tyna received a 2014 GAP for dues for studio space, as well as project materials for new work. Her work emphasizes the relationship between the intrinsic human nature of the individual in tandem to a community. She uses multiple printmaking process, separating the print from its commodity reputation, then rejoining them within a story-like context. She believes the uniqueness of our present culture of digital mass customization in art is identical with its embeddedness in the context of tradition.