Visiting Artists, Summer Resident Artists, and Project-Based Fellows:
Thierry Bal
Brian Craig-Wankiiri
Paula Billups
Dr. Paul Johnston
Rebecca Taber

Rebecca Taber (March 2011 Resident Artist)

 Curating, Painting, and Photography.   London, UK
In 1995 Taber studied photography and worked as assistant to Anthony Oliver in London and Cathy Callanan in New York. Collaborating with Essex Council Romany liason staff. She then poduced an exhibition of documentary photography work about their plight following the criminal justice law passed in 1994, which restricted and denied their right to be a nomadic people.

In 1999  She went onto study architecture at the Escuela Massana Barcelona and later completed her MFA in painting at Bath Spa University. Emerging onto the London art scene as gallerist and curator in 2002 opening the Ensign Gallery, collaborating with The London School of Fashion, Whitechapel Art Gallery gaining serious acclaim from Elle magazine and the BBC. After completing the MFA in 2006 she was represented by The Nettie Horn Gallery London with an opening solo show entitled ‘New Beginnings’ which featured paintings describing lives of soldiers during the 1809 Peninsular war in Europe. Completed whilst on residency at the Can Serrat Art Center in Barcelona. She went onto exhibit alongside, Wolfgang Tilmans, Bob and Roberta Smith and Tracey Emin. Showing at several international art fairs in New York, London and Miami ArtBasel. She has worked with and been supported by the Royal Society of the Arts, The National Print Gallery and the Courtauld Institute of the Arts.

In 2009 she went to South Africa teaching and exchanging basic drawing and painting skills with the Venda sculptors at Leshiba Center for Indigenous Knowledge. In June 2009 beoming Arts Advisor for the Arts Council youth training through the encouragement of the arts at Trinity Guildhall London and ‘Artist of extraordinary ability’ by WESTAF California Arts Commission. Currently she divides her time between France and San Francisco where she has lived and worked for the last 3 years. Forming a current project ‘INK’ and working with esteemed sculptor Gyongy Laky proffessor and Chair of the Design Programme at UC Davis CA. She also has curated exhibitions at 23HAM Center for the arts and is part of an ongoing artist in residence programme at the Kala Art Center Berkeley.

http://www.rebeccataber.com/

Follow these links to our Facebook albums for Rebecca's open studios during her residency at the Siena Art Institute:  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=216042125079460&id=161212727229067&aid=72749
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.218029611547378.73649.161212727229067
STATEMENT

I am largely nomadic with my painting and drawing practice. Interested in the the subtleties and nuances of the environment I am within. I am focused on how the physical space is then reflected into the work. How do the past events of any given room or building then effect the work as it develops and unfolds ? What layers are left in an empty room ?

The works utilize a careful layering of both figurative and abstract elements, using both automatic techniques and careful study. Intricately weaving a connection between the highly personal and the unknown element. Demonstrating an essential paring down, a honing, of scope and intentions the works are often ephemeral and haunting.

I follow a practice of describing from the ‘everyday’, in as much as the studio becomes enlarged to every part of daily life. Noticing through the tedium of repetition how everything seems always different and changed although simultaneously the same.

The landscapes describe worlds that have been seen or imagined, places of the heart, descriptions of ‘home’. ‘INK’ is an ongoing project to describe the longing experienced in trying to trace back the threads of home or a homeland.

Rebecca Taber 2010

Images from Rebecca Taber's Open Studio at the Siena Art Institute 13 April: 
Images of Rebecca Taber's Open Studio at the Siena Art Institute 8 April: 
REBECCA TABER
  • Born in 1976
  • Lives & works in London and France

EDUCATION
  • 2006 MA Bath Spa University, UK
  • 2001 BA Int. Architecture Brighton University, UK
  • 2000 Escuela Massana, Barcelona, Spain

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
  • 2010 Rebecca Taber Paintings, Bay Gallery, London
  • 2008 A Figure of Speech, Site Studios, Santa Fe
  • 2007 Beginnings, The Brick Lane Gallery, London
  • 2003 Passions, LG Gallery, London
  • 2002 Open House, Ensign Gallery, London
  • Durbins, Roger Fry, Guildford, supported by The Courtauld Institute, London

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
  • 2009 Begin Anywhere, 23HAM, San Francisco
  • 2008 Latitude, Emerging Artists, NYCAMS, New York
  • 2007 St Joseph Hospice, London
  • 2007 Beauhemia, Nettie Horn, London
  • 2006 Peace Camp, The Brick Lane Gallery, London
  • 2005 Works on Paper, Flux Factory, New York
  • 2005 Art in Mind, ADI Gallery, London
  • 2005 ARTAID 2005’, Royal College of Art ,London
  • 2002 The New Gentleness in Painting, i-Level Gallery, London

COLLECTIONS
  • Coca-Cola Great Britain , London
  • Lawrence Graham, London
  • Private Collections France, USA, Canada, Greece

BIBLIOGRAPHY
  • 2005 "ArtAid 2005" Catalogue Royal College of Art, London
  • 2004 “Stefan Dunlop Painting”, foreword to catalogue, University of London, London College of Fashion,  London
  • 2002 "Rebecca Taber Artist & Architect”, Chartered Society of Designers, London

AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
  • 2010 Residency with Gyongy Laky, San Francisco
  • 2009 WESTAF, California Arts Council, "Extraordinary Artist" Award
  • 2009 Visual Art Cultural Exchange, Le Sheba, South Africa
  • 2008 Spiritual in Art Practice workshop Rose Shakinovsky & Claire Gavronsky, Italy
  • 2008 Artist in Residence 23HAM Berkeley, San Francisco
  • 2008 KALA Institute for the Arts, San Francisco
  • 2007 Can Serrat Residency, Barcelona
  • 2005 Residency with Rose Shakinovsky & Claire Gavronsky, Italy
  • 2000 Vitra Design Workshops, Poitiers, France
  • 1999 Santa Fe Photography Workshops, New Mexico

  TEACHING
  • 2007 Lecturer Rablegh Drawing Center, Malborough
  • 2005 Teaching Assistant Protocol Teacher, London