Tonia Shimin
Filed under: Authors
As a dancer Tonia Shimin performed in the companies of Martha Graham, Jose Limón, Pearl Lang, The Ypsilanti Greek Theater, and as a soloist with Anna Sokolow's Player's Project, Mary Anthony Dance Theater and Repertory West Dance Company. She has had an extensive teaching career in the United States and abroad. Her choreographic works have appeared in the United States, the Czech Republic, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Switzerland, Greece, Italy and Mexico. As an award-winning dance filmmaker for (among others) the documentary Mary Anthony: A Life in Modern Dance, her awards have included support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Santa Barbara Dance Alliance.
Currently she is Professor Emerita of the Department of Theater and Dance at the University of California, Santa Barbara and continues her creative work in the USA and abroad. Most recently she has curated, edited, and with Mercury Press International published the award winning book, The Art of Symeon Shimin, on the remarkable work of her father, whose fine art is here shown in a collection for the first time.
Since publication, The Art of Symeon Shimin has received the following awards:
- The Independent Press Awards named The Art of Symeon Shimin the Distinguished Favorite for Fine Arts, 2020
- Winner of 2020 NYC Big Book Award in Arts and Entertainment
- Winner of The 2021 Book Excellence Award for Art
- Winner, Pinnacle Book Achievement Award from National Association of Book Entrepreneurs
- The 2021 Eric Hoffer Honorary Mention Award for Art
- Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist: Art
- 2021 BRONZE Medal Award in Art - Independent Publisher Awards
- 2022 First Prize Art Book, North Street Book Prize
- 2022 Maincrest Book Award
Critics of The Art of Symeon Shimin say:
"A loving survey of an artist's varied career." —Kirkus Reviews
"This coffee-table style volume is an impressively informative presentation that clearly and effectively showcases the life and work of one of the 20th Century's most gifted artists—and should be considered an essential and core addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university fine arts collections." —The Midwest Book Review
"A social realist." —Time Magazine
"His name will mean something in the long history of painting." —The Architectural Forum
"Shimin was a vessel for the unheard voices of his time. Those who were shunned, he highlighted; for those who were unseen, he provided a stage. He saw the common man for what he was—beautiful, exceptional, and equal." —Lauren Kinsley, Research Assistant
"The incomparable emotion of Shimin's drawings and paintings are on full display in this beautiful collection. Humanity is the subject, presented in humble iconic imagery and complex gestures alive with every turn of the page." —Eric Hoffer Awards
"As long as we seek to understand and express the value and significance of human experience as such, there will be a place for artists such as Shimin." —Sam Ben Meir
Tonia Shimin can be reached at shimin@ucsb.edu.
Website: http://www.symeonshimin.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/symeonshimin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SymeonShimin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/symeon_shimin/
Winning Entry: The Art of Symeon Shimin
Contest Won: North Street Book Prize 2022, First Prize
