| Art Profile |
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Sinem Banna was born in Istanbul in 1968. She studied ceramics and glass, and graduated from Mimar Sinan University in 1989. She continued her study at Villa Arson Academy in Nice, and then went to Paris to study art. Her journey took her to the United States, where she completed her master′s degree in sculpture at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1994. During those years, Banna began to introduce words and objects such as toy parts, tea glasses and coffee beans as cultural signs into her work. She has created many poetic sculptural compositions, a number of them on plexiglass constructions and light boxes. Through her three dimensional conceptual compositions, she always examines life, cultural identities and social conflicts in a very poetic manner by combining everyday objects with words and light.
Banna has had numerous solo exhibitions throughout Europe and the US, including San Francisco, New York, New Mexico, Los Angeles and Istanbul. She has received many prizes in Europe and the United States for her works of art. In 1996, she presented her work in the “Brain and Self” exhibition, which was held in Copenhagen and Elsinore (Denmark), and she was honored a first prize award. In 2004, she was selected by the international jury of Artiade as a cultural ambassador of art for USA/Turkey in the ARTIADE/Olympics of Visual Arts during the Olympic games in Athens. Banna is widely recognized by media including New York Times, CNN Turkey and San Francisco Examiner. She taught sculpture at California State University, Sacramento. Currently, she lives in San Francisco, and works as a part-time faculty at the University of Phoenix.
Selected exhibitions:
2000, “Direct Directions”, Nese Alpan Gallery, Roslyn, New York
2000, “California Small Works”, Sonoma Museum of Visual Art, Santa Rosa, California
2000, “Summer Showcase”, Limner Gallery, New York, New York
2000, “Faces of Woman”, New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, New Mexico
2001, "Pacific Rim Sculptors Group”, Juried by Rene De Guzman, Curator, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
2002, "Single Show", Saydamhane, Kemal Sunal Gallery, Istanbul
2004, “Single Show”, otto.WO.man, Knorr Gallery, San Mateo, California
2004, "Olympics of Visual Arts 2004 | ATHENS", Curated by Cultural Foundation ARTIADE, Athens, Greece
2004, "Female2", ArtSF, San Francisco, California
2005, “3x3D”, Adell McMillan Gallery Eugene, Oregon
2007, "Hear Me", Public Art, Central Park, San Mateo, California
2008, "Public Art", San Mateo Transit Center, San Mateo, California
Awards:
1992, Grant, San Francisco Art Institute
1993, Grant, The Lef Foundation, San Francisco
1993, Grant, Secession Gallery, San Francisco
1997, First Prize, The Brain & Self Exhibit, Denmark
2004, Grant Turkish Municipal Olympics Athens 2004
2004, Grant, Dibay Kimya, Istanbul
2006-2007, "Residency Grant", Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Reference: sinembanna.com
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