ARTISTIC STATEMENT

Tanya Besedina is a Ukrainian-Canadian artist whose porcelain sculptures and installations speak in a language of silence-where touch, light, and memory become storytellers. Her work emerges from a life lived with an open heart, shaped by a complex heritage, spiritual searching, and the profound teachings of motherhood.

Working primarily with translucent porcelain, she sees the material not only as a vessel of form, but of light itself—a metaphor for the unseen realms of emotion, intuition, and spirit. The way porcelain catches and filters light mirrors how she experiences the world: through layers of subtlety, fragility, and strength. Her daughter, born blind, taught Tanya to perceive life beyond the visual, to listen more deeply, and to hold space for beauty in the invisible. This perspective echoes in every curve and shadow of her work.

Tanya’s sculptures are meditations on transformation, love, loss, and renewal. They are imbued with ancestral echoes and carry within them the mythology of personal and collective memory. Through porcelain, she opens portals—inviting us to feel more, remember more, and imagine what lies just beyond the visible.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Arts and Cultural Training and Learning

2000 Master’s Degree in Economics, Ukraine
2001 Master’s Degree in Fashion Design, Ukraine
2002 present – Self-directed and mentored training in ceramic sculpture and porcelain work, Toronto, Canada
2019 Professional training with world-renowned artist Sergei Isupov, Cummington, Massachusetts, Project Art01026
2019 Professional training with world-renowned artist Crystal Morey, Cummington, Massachusetts, Project Art01026

Exhibitions:

2024-2014 The Artist Project, Exhibition Place, Exhibition Place, Toronto
2013-2021 Toronto Outdoor Art Fair
2020 "Motherhood Stories During Pandemic" York Region Art Council
2019 Roots Routes, Mental Health Exhibit, Old Town Hall, Newmarket
2017 The Brain Project, Yogen Früz, Baycrest, Toronto
2013 Milton Art Center, "A see-it, feel-it, hear-it" Accessibility for disability, Holcim Gallery.
2013 Nuit Blanche: Doors of Hope, Toronto
2013 Featured Artist & Speaker, Big Art Book, Scarborough Arts Center
2013 Rising Star, One of a Kind Spring Show, Toronto
2012 Rising Star, OOAK Christmas Show, Toronto
2012 Art Tile Show, Silver City, NM
2012 Big Art Book, Scarborough Arts Center
2012 Design Hope Toronto, Art Auction for the Homeless
2011 Little Art Show, Hang Man Gallery. Toronto

Artist talks, presentations and articles

2021 Artist Talk - "Clay Voices" Canadian Clay Art community
2016 Artist Talk -“The Artist Project”, Toronto
2012 Artist Talk - "Big Art Book". Scarborough Arts Center received an artist fee.

Volunteer Experience and Public Programs

2019 Blessed Scalabrini Catholic School – Conducted a 3-day Workshop for students and followed the exhibition “Saint”
2012-2015 - Artist in the School Program, Toronto Catholic School Board, resident artist.

Media Coverage and Publications

2024 Featured Artist, York Region Arts Council, received an artist fee
2017 Toronto Star, 100 Brain Sculptures to Descend on Toronto
Read Article
2015 OMNI TV Interview during TOAF
Watch Interview
2013 "500 Paper Objects", Paperclay sculptures, Lark Publishing
2013 BlogTo Featured Artist of TOAF

Awards, Recognition and Grants

2020 Government Grant for the Project "Motherhood Stories during Pandemic"
2017 Yogen Fruz The Brain Project. Baycrest. Toronto
2013 Nuit Blanche Toronto. “Doors of Hope”
Rising Star, “One of a Kind” Art Shows (2012, 2013)

Contact