Bio
Tia Kramer (b. 1980) is an interdisciplinary artist, social choreographer, performer, and educator interested in everyday gestures of human connection. She creates experiences that interrupt the ordinary, engaging participants in embodied poetry and collective imagination.
Tia holds an MFA in Art + Social Practice from Portland State University and a Post Baccalaureate in Fiber + Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her recent projects include "For You, and Us," a series of performances created with and for an audience of one person, and devised in collaboration with members of their shared communities. The last of these, "What You Touch You Cannot See: Performance for Phil," was created for her mail carrier, Phil, and unfolded along his mail route with the collaborative participation of 87 residents.
Kramer co-founded the Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition's Colectivo de Arte Social (2018-present), which initiates bold creative projects like The Listeners Project: Queremos Escucharte to collectively share unheard stories from the Walla Walla Valley. Currently, Kramer and her collaborator Amanda Leigh Evans are the DeepTime Collective. Together they are developing When The River Becomes a Cloud (2021-2024), a collaborative public artwork generated through their long-term Artist-in-Residence at Prescott School (PreK-12) and The Constellational Now (2023-2024), a one-year project as Artist-in-Residence at the Everson Museum in Syracuse, NY. Tia has also collaboratively established The Ships In The Night, (2020 onward) a long-term living archive project in New London, CT, with Jessica Cerullo.
Kramer has created performances and socially engaged projects for the Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park, Henry Art Gallery, Everson Museum, Georgetown Steam Plant, MadArt Studio Seattle, Harper Joy Theatre, La Grua Art Center, and Prescott School District. Her work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Nova Foundation, Eichholz Foundation, Artist Trust, 4Culture, Washington State Library, Sherwood Trust, Laurel's Fellowship, and Simon Benson Awards. You can find writings about her work at: CityArts Magazine, The Stranger, Critical Reads, The Seattle Times, Northwest Public Broadcasting, Social Forms of Art (SoFA) Journal, Seattle Art Museum Blog, and others.
Originally from Iowa, Tia is now rooted in the vibrant rural community of Walla Walla, Washington. She finds delight in asking questions, having her hands in the dirt, running a 10 minute mile, and being with her partner, two young kids and studio dog, Otis.