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Tanya Crane

She // Her // Hers

Jewelry Artist and Object Maker

Providence, Rhode Island

An African American woman smiles at the camera. Her hair is curly and dark in a natural afro style with a colorful scarf tying it back. She is wearing overalls, black-and-white enameled earrings, and sparkly green glasses.

Photo Jesse Beecher.

Each of my jewelry pieces marks a time, a place, or a memory. They are linked together with a similar visual language where I utilize black and white enamel marks on the surface of copper to indicate my hand and tick marks to represent time passing.”

Tanya Crane is a Southern California native who, after years of geographic exploration, has found a home and community in Providence, Rhode Island where she currently practices her research and creative disciplines. In addition to her rigorous studio practice, Crane is a Professor of the Practice in Metals at the School Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts where her interdisciplinary focus in jewelry, craft, sculpture, and performance is utilized to influence the next generation of artists, craftspeople, and thinkers. Crane’s jewelry and sculpture are framed within a dual existence of prejudice and privilege, having adapted to life amongst family in both the white suburbs of rural Los Angeles and the predominantly black suburbs of South Central, Los Angeles. Craft has manifested as a conduit between these two worlds that have provided her with the cultural infrastructure that is centering her current work. Crane’s jewelry amplifies and elucidates the strata of human existence; these include history, race, class, and culture. Coming from the perspective of an African-American woman, Crane uses community and inclusiveness as a magnetic beacon to diversify and expand ideas, understandings, and codifications.

Donor -This award was generously supported by Barr Foundation.

This artist page was last updated on: 08.15.2024

A cropped photograph of a person’s chest and arm wearing a black T-shirt with a gold-plated brass, copper, and enamel necklace. The necklace boasts five intricately detailed medallions. On the forearm a black rectangular tattoo can be seen with details of multiple eyes.

Big Pimpin' by Tanya Crane, 2014. Copper, enamel, gold-plated brass, 18-karat gold.

Photo by Jim Escalante.

A dark-skinned person is photographed against a gray backdrop. They are captured from their left side profile and are dressed in a plain black T-shirt. A sterling silver corded necklace resembling a telephone cord rests just beneath their shoulders. On the left side of the wire, a cluster of oblong woven sea grass and 14 nu-gold pendants hang and rest over their shoulder.

Canopica by Tanya. Crane, 2014. Nu gold, sterling silver, sea grass.

Photo by Jim Escalante.

A steel jug placed on its side covered with etched tally marks.

What's his worth by Tanya Crane, 2023. Enameled steel urinal, sgraffito enamel, 24-karat gold leaf.

Photo by Tanya Crane.