Tip Toland

Tip Toland (born May 9, 1950) is an American ceramic artist and teacher who was born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. She earned a BFA in Ceramics from the University of Colorado and an MFA in Ceramics from Montana State University. Her works, which are figurative and often described as "hyper-real," are held by galleries and museums around the United States.

Toland's early works were wall reliefs in wood, clay and pigment. Her more recent three-dimensional stoneware sculptures are close to life size, sometimes larger. She uses paint, encaustic technique and hair to create figures with "uncanny skin quality, utterly convincing hand gestures and eerily spontaneous facial expressions."

Career
In 1984 Toland moved to Seattle. Her various teaching positions have included Louisiana State University, the University of Washington, the University of Montana, and Montana State University; she has taught workshops around the U.S. and abroad.

Toland's 2014 exhibit titled "The Persecution of People with Albinism in Tanzania" at the Portland Art Museum included sculptures of children and teens with albinism, drawing attention to prejudice and other dangers faced by those with albinism in some East African countries.

In 2016, she was the Frances Niederer Artist-in-Residence at Hollins University's Eleanor D. Wilson Museum.

Tip Toland is currently represented by the Traver Gallery in Seattle.

Group exhibitions

 * 2013-2014: Body & Soul: New International Ceramics, Museum of Arts & Design, NY

Solo exhibitions

 * 2007: Pacini Lubel Gallery
 * 2008 - 2009: Melt: The Figure in Clay, Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, WA (catalog)
 * 2014: Apex: Tip Toland, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR.

Collections
Works by Toland are held by galleries and museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY), the Museum of Arts and Design (NY), Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Arizona State University), Yellowstone Art Museum (Billings, MT), Daum Museum of Contemporary Art (Sedalia, MO), and the Archie Bray Foundation (Helena, MT).

Awards
Toland received a Visual Arts Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1986. She also received a Virginia A. Groot Foundation Award in 2004 and a fellowship from Washington State's Artist Trust in 2007. In 2014, she was awarded a United States Artist Fellowship.