ARTIST INFO

TONY SANTOYO
St. Paul, MN

CERAMICS + PAINTING | Functional and sculptural ceramics, painting

Penland Affiliation | Penland Core Fellow 2020 – 2022

Artist Information | Studio artist and fellowship student; education: BA Studio Arts, University of Minnesota; exhibitions: A Curious Year, Penland Gallery (NC), Visual Index, Winston-Salem (NC), Chautauqua Visual Arts: CVA Craft Gallery (NY), Mug Madness/Sarah’s Spirit Squad, Saltstone Ceramics Gallery WA)

Artist Statement | Tony Santoyo is a painter, papermaker, and ceramicist from St. Paul, Minnesota. He received his BA in Studio Arts with minors in Sociology and Anthropology from the University of Minnesota in 2018. He participated in the Core Fellowship program at Penland School of Craft from 2020-2022.

Tony is a Mexican-American that comes from immigrant parents and draws from his experience as a first-generation immigrant, his own identity and environment, and his sense of belonging and acceptance. He explores overlapping layers, geometric forms, and compositions through a self-intuitive process that contrasts decoration and abstraction. Tony is inspired by the colors and shapes from his Mexican culture to overlay his experience and aims to capture the power of gesture and emotion through dance and movement. Whether it is with the physical body or eye, he finds that the intersection of craft and movement brings us the opportunity to find joy, beauty, and depth through the appreciation and expression of the body. Defined by living between and within many cultures, Tony aims to build a sense of self-pride in his work by sharing his comfort with his intersectionality of identities.

Technical information | Handbuilt ceramics, painting on canvas