{{Short description|Canadian artist}} {{Infobox artist | name = Tau Lewis | birth_date = October 31, 1993 | website = {{URL|taulewis.com}} | birth_place = Toronto, Ontario Canada | known_for = Sculpture }} '''Tau Lewis''' (born 1993 in Toronto, Ontario)<ref name="SFMOMA">{{cite web |title=Lewis, Tau |url=https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/Tau_Lewis/ |website=SFMOMA |access-date=19 March 2026}}</ref> is a Jamaican-Canadian artist, mostly known for her sculptures in which she works with a variety of mediums including hand-sewn, carved, and assemblage. Lewis's environmentally-conscious use of reclaimed scraps and found materials connects with histories of resourcefulness employed by artists of the Southern United States.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Greenberger |first=Alex |date=December 9, 2022 |title=Tau Lewis's Beguiling Sculptures Allow Her to Commune with Spirits |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/artists/tau-lewis-52-walker-sculptures-1234649657/ |url-status= |access-date=March 23, 2024 |work=ARTnews}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-01-25 |title=Portraits of Landscapes: Tau Lewis — Mousse Magazine and Publishing |url=https://www.moussemagazine.it/magazine/tau-lewis-hans-ulrich-obrist-2021 |access-date=2026-04-20 |website=www.moussemagazine.it |language=en-US}}</ref>
Her work is in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.<ref name="SFMOMA"/> Her sculpture ''Symphony'' was installed in the rotunda of the National Gallery of Canada from July 16, 2021 through January 2, 2022.<ref name="National Gallery of Canada">{{cite web |title=Tau Lewis: Symphony |url=https://www.gallery.ca/whats-on/exhibitions-and-galleries/tau-lewis-symphony |website=National Gallery of Canada |access-date=19 March 2026 |language=en}}</ref> In 2024 her work was exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.<ref name="Institute of Contemporary Art / Boston">{{cite web |title=Tau Lewis: Spirit Level |url=https://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/tau-lewis/ |website=Institute of Contemporary Art / Boston |access-date=19 March 2026}}</ref><ref name="New York Times">{{cite web |last1=Sheets |first1=Hilarie M. |title=How Tau Lewis Channels the Spirit World |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/17/arts/tau-lewis-artist.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=19 March 2026 |date=17 August 2024}}</ref> Her work was included in the exhibition Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA).<ref name="BAMPFA">{{cite web |title=Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection |url=https://bampfa.org/making-their-mark |website=BAMPFA |access-date=19 March 2026 |language=en |date=21 March 2024}}</ref>
== Early Life and Education == Lewis was born in 1993, in Toronto, Canada.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Night Gallery to Represent Tau Lewis - - News - Night Gallery |url=https://www.nightgallery.ca/news/night-gallery-to-represent-tau-lewis |access-date=2026-04-20 |website=www.nightgallery.ca}}</ref> She was raised by her Irish and French Canadian mother, who ran a small landscaping business until her death in 2022. Lewis' father was born in Jamaica and ran a reggae bar in Toronto.<ref name="New York Times" /> Lewis, who has a passion for writing, attended school for journalism twice and dropped out both times before dedicating herself to her art. As a result, Lewis is a self-taught artist who has crafted her education through communication with her peers and through the meeting and research of some of her artistic influences such as Lonnie Holley and the Gee’s Bend Quilting Collective.<ref name="New York Times" /> As critic Tiana Reid wrote in an Art News interview, “although Lewis did not attend art school, she received her education in a less conventional way, through the close study of her creative inspirations”.<ref name=":4" />
== Work == Lewis is known widely for her sculptural work that employs the use of found objects and fabrics that are often found, thrifted, or donated to her. She then combines these materials through hand-sewing, quilting, appliqué, and carving methods which results in creations that often evoke fantastical otherworldly beings with an outwardly handmade quality. By using these hands-on techniques Lewis develops a strong connection to the materials and the resulting sculptural work.<ref name=":4" /> In interviews, Lewis discusses a transference of energy that occurs through time and touch between herself, her found materials, and the final work. In this way, Lewis draws the objects’ past histories and experiences into her own ever-evolving narrative that surrounds her work.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-02-28 |title=Artists You Should Know: Tau Lewis {{!}} Misstropolis {{!}} Boston's Contemporary Arts & Culture Blog |url=https://www.misstropolis.com/home/tau-lewis |access-date=2026-04-20 |website=Misstropolis |language=en-US}}</ref>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Tau}} Category:1993 births Category:Living people Category:Artists from Toronto Category:Canadian women sculptors Category:Feminist artists Category:Canadian contemporary artists Category:Contemporary sculptors Category:Canadian queer artists Category:Queer feminists Category:Canadian people of Jamaican descent Category:Canadian LGBTQ artists Category:Black Canadian women Category:Black Canadian LGBTQ people Category:Black Canadian artists Category:21st-century Canadian women artists Category:21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people