Cosmic Rhythms: Athena Tacha's Public Sculpture

Introduction by the late renowned art historian Ellen Johnson. Athena Tacha is a pioneer in the field of site-sculpture, and her work is located on sites from Alaska to Florida and from Arizona to New York. "Especially in her step constructions, begun in 1970, Tacha's work is a synthesis of both site and architectural sculpture." American Artists on American Art, edited by Ellen Johnson. Harper & Row, New York, 1982, p. 215. "Tacha's works, in the manner of much sited sculpture, combine built form with the use of the landscape contours." "Earthworks and Beyond" by John Beardsley, Abbeviile Press, New York, 1989, p 106. Of her sculpted park "Connections in Philadelphia," Tacha says, "1 hope it will offer a magical and healing environment within the stressful fabric if the inner city." The 80-page book is illustrated with 54 black and white reproductions. It was printed in a small edition to accompany an exhibition (January 1999) of Athena Tacha's art at Beck Center in Lakewood, Ohio. When Athena Tacha, born in Greece, came to the United States in 1963, she had just received her Ph. D. in Aesthetics from the Sorbonne in Paris. She became the curator of Modern Art at Allen Memorial Art Museum of Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. Later she was appointed professor of sculpture at Oberlin College and concentrated her private work on site sculpture. In 1999, Tacha and her husband, art historian, Richard Spear, moved to Washington, D.C. where they now live and work. "I wanted to make my art available to everybody, and not just work for the elite, the people who are educated and go to museums. And I did not want my art to be commodity purchased by rich people." Tacha, from a review in the "Free Times" of her exhibition at Beck Center.