Tomashi is interested in the stories attached to specific materials, what they are made of, the environments they transform, and related perceptions of value. She is exploring the significance of labor, informality, and accumulation.
Tomashi’s current projects investigate the seen, the unseen, and the aesthetics of infrastructure in public and private spaces. Specific sites of interest are livelihood migration, domesticity, landscape, and the built environment. She is exploring installation, color, video, sculpture, performance, and interactivity as vehicles for questioning narrative and materiality. It is her intention that the compositions that emerge from these investigations function as language, cues for memory, and new material.
Songs come to her quite naturally and sometimes she sings songs, sing along style, with groups of willing participants. Many of her new works reference her memory of music from the late 70s, 80s and early 90s. Some favorite artists are New Edition, After 7, Luther Vandross, and Steely Dan. Much of her work is rooted in the practice of drawing.
Before joining the MIT Program in Art, Culture, and Technology she studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.
Exhibitions
Experience Economics May 2011, Experience Economies 4: A Chamber Play, Signet Society House Harvard University Cambridge, MA April 201
Laughter as Medium November 2010, Arts in Bushwick Festival Brooklyn, NY
Going Under April 2010,The Cooper Union N.Y., NY.
The Brucennial/ Bruceforma February 2010, The Bruce High Quality Foundation, N.Y., NY.
This Sculpture is not a Bicycle October 2009, The Cooper Union N.Y., NY.
Liberating Landscapes August 2009, Togonon Gallery, S.F., CA.
Fever Grass: A Brief Study of Collective Memory and Waste Management in Dangriga, Belize November 2008
Benjamin Menschel Fellowship Exhibition, The Cooper Union N.Y., NY.
Everything There and Not There August 2008, The Broadway Gallery, N.Y., NY.
Of Sound and Vision December 2008, The Honor Roll Music Studio, Miami, FL.
Publication-Schmublication December 2008, The Broadway Gallery, N.Y., NY.
EYOS June 2008, The Cooper Union N.Y., NY
Un Vagon Hermoso En Nueva York April 2008, The Canal Chapter N.Y., NY
Drawing Atmosphere March 2008 Super Front Architectural Exhibition Space Brooklyn, NY
Reverie March 2008, The Broadway Gallery N.Y., NY.
SuperGlue- New December 2007,The Broadway Gallery N.Y., NY.
For All We Know October 2007, The Cooper Union N.Y., NY
Evolution of a Community April 2004, Mural Unveiling, Los Angeles, CA
In Bloom: L.A. Style New Works April 2002, Upon Shop, Silverlake, CA
Soul on Rice: A Two Woman Exhibition July 2001, Togonon Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Los Jovenes 2000, Mission Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA.
Curatorial Work
Publication-Schmublication, Group Show, The Broadway Gallery, N.Y., NY. December 2008
Drawing Atmosphere , Group Show, Super Front Architectural Exhibition Space, Brooklyn, NY March 2008
Fever Grass: A Brief Study of Collective Memory and Waste Management in Dangriga, BZ. The Cooper Union, N.Y., NY November 2008
Everything There and Not There The Broadway Gallery, N.Y., NY. August 2008
Awards
Office of the Dean of Graduate Education Diversity Fellowship 2011, Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Architecture, Cambridge, Mass.
Council for the Arts MIT Project Grant 2011 funding TalkDraw@MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Architecture, Cambridge, Mass.
Presidential Tuition Fellowship 2010 and 2011, Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Architecture, Cambridge, Mass.
Richard Lewis Bloch Memorial Prize 2010, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, N.Y., NY.
Benjamin Menschel Fellowship for Creative Inquiry 2008, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, N.Y., NY.
Full-Tuition Scholarship 2005, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, N.Y., NY.
Certificate of Appreciation 2004, Awarded for the design and completion of the Los Angeles District 1 mural, “Evolution of a Community”
Public Art Matching Grant 2003, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs
Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center Community Mural Award 2002
Awarded for participating in the design and completion of the Hunters’ Point neighborhood mural, “Soul Journey” S.F., CA.
San Francisco Art Institute Merit Scholarship Award 1998, S.F., CA.
Apprenticeships
•La Mama Experimental Theater April 2009 N.Y., NY. Projectionist, Assistant to Cast Members
Image/ light projection and show puppetry for the theatrical production of the Kyrgys epic Er Toshtuk
•Deborah Masters Studio, Brooklyn, NY November 2006-March 2007 Studio Assistant
Assisted master sculptor Deborah Masters in the execution of the three piece project, “The Travelers” exhibited at The Storm King Sculpture Park, NY.
•Studio de Juana Alicia: Casa de Los Milagros 1999-2001
Assisted master muralist Juana Alicia in facilitating and executing 7 large scale public mural projects and class room group projects in San Francisco, CA., S.F. International Airport, Oakland, CA., and Erie, Penn.
