Artist Bio
Toi Sennhauser was born in 1977 in Bangkok, Thailand. After having been raised in Thailand and Austria she moved to Seattle in 1996 to attend the University of Washington. When not making food-influenced art she expands her culinary and life expertise caring for her lovely baby daughter. She continues to live in Seattle.
Artist Résumé
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Born 1977 in Bangkok, Thailand |
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| Education | |
|---|---|
| 2005 |
Artist Trust EDGE program - professional development training program for visual artists |
| 2000 |
BFA Sculpture, Cum Laude - University of Washington, Seattle |
| Selected Exhibitions | |
| 2007 |
The Modern Bird – Group Show, Design Commission, Seattle |
| 2006 |
Private Solo Exhibition and Interactive Event for Select Henry Art Museum Patrons – Edie Adams Residence, Seattle Dinner Theater – Interactive Art-Dinner-Theater, On The Boards, Seattle Softly Threatening: Artwork of the Modern Domestic - Group Show, Bumbershoot, Seattle Artist Trust: Art by Artists Recognized by the Prestigious Regional Awards Program - Chase Gallery, Spokane Menu: Edible Elements of Art - Group Show, Kirkland Arts Center, Kirkland Seattle Erotic Art Festival - Consolidated Works, Seattle |
| 2005 |
Oktoberfest - Solo one-night-only interactive installation, Crawl Space, Seattle SOIL 1995-2005: A Retrospective - Group Show, SOIL Gallery, Seattle Thread Shop - Labor, Seattle Seattle Erotic Art Festival - Consolidated Works, Seattle One Dozen Oysters - Backspace, Soil Gallery |
| 2004 |
Soil Auction - Annual Auction, Jem Studios Thread Shop - Everyday Art for Sale, Threadshop, Seattle |
| 2003 |
Fashion is Art - Storefront Exhibition, Vain Hair Salon & Gallery, Seattle SOIL Collections and Creations - Group Show, Lopez Room, Bumbershoot, Seattle Fashion is Art - Group Show, Olympic Room, Bumbershoot, Seattle Of Sustenance, Secrets, and Two Girls - Group Show, SOIL Gallery, Seattle |
| 2002 |
SOIL Auction - Annual Auction, Noodleworks Studios, Seattle Collaborators - Group Show, SOIL Gallery, Seattle One Night Only #7 - Private Art Studio, Pioneer Square, Seattle Switch - New Member Show, SOIL Gallery, Seattle SOIL Does Houston - Group Show, Houston Gallery, Seattle |
| 2001 |
SOIL Auction - Annual Auction, Noodle Works Studios, Seattle Erotica - Group Show, CMA, University of Washington, Seattle |
| 2000 |
Artdrill - Group Show, Consolidated Works, Seattle BFA - Group Show, Oculus Gallery, Seattle BFA 2000 - Degree Show, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, UW, Seattle Odegaard Undergraduate Library Student Sculpture Exhibition - Group Show, UW - piece purchased for permanent collection |
| Collections | |
| 2006 |
Private Collection, Edie Adams Residence, Seattle |
| 2000 |
University of Washington, Odegaard library, Seattle |
| Awards and Honors | |
| 2003 |
Artist Trust GAP grant recipient, Washington State |
| 1999 |
Lockitch Scholarship, UW, Seattle |
| Related Experience | |
| 2001-2005 |
Soil - Artist Cooperative, active member |
| 2000 |
Artdrill - Artist Cooperative, founding collaborator Seattle Children's Museum - Artist in Residence Intern |
Awards & Recognition
| 2003 | Artist Trust GAP Grant Recipient, Washington State |
| 2000 | Annual Dean’s List, UW |
| 1999 | Annual Dean’s List, UW |
| Lockitch Scholarship, UW |
Bibliography
| 2005 | Fahey, Anna | SOIL: Seattle’s Artist-Run Gallery, 1995-2005, catalogue |
| 2003 | Meade, Fionn | Fashion is Art, catalogue, p. 8 |
Artist Statement
The fastest way to man’s heart is through his stomach
We are what we eat
Food is life itself. For example, yeast, rice, milk, honey and grains, because they have been used for millennia, carry a great amount of symbolic weight. It was the cultivation of grains that led to permanent settlement and the development of civilizations around the world. Basic sustenance, second only to air as a human need, makes a primal, familiar and very powerful medium to work with. Food, and our complex relationship with it, helps explain human happiness and sorrow, love, hate, heaven and hell.
Experimentation with historic staple foods, often in combination with my own (female) body, builds a new dimension – understanding through taste. To experience an art piece through taste is a two-pronged experience. The viewer has to make a simple decision – to eat it or not. Because it is such a primal question the circumstances around the food in question become loud and clear. Is it socially acceptable to eat toast bread made with vaginal yeast? Is it natural? How about a cup of hot milk and honey made with the artist’s feet? Is it kinky? Are feet really dirty? Why does it make such a difference when it comes to the human body? From a young age we are trained to disconnect our minds from our bodies. For what reason?
It is these and other phenomena about human society that I try to expose and learn about by feeding the viewer. By sharing my food with somebody I share my heart and thoughts and invite the viewer to have a conversation on a genuinely intimate level. Essence meets essence. The participants begin to understand me and I them. Once again, food is the medium.
Publications
| 2006 | Hackett, Regina | Artist’s candy breaks the mold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 10, p.E1/3 |
| 2005 | Hackett, Regina | Best Bet, What’s Happening, visual arts section, October 7-13, Seattle Post Intelligencer |
| 2003 | Hackett, Regina | What’s Showing, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bumbershoot Guide, p.16 |
| Parvaz, D. | Fashion Statements, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Aug. 29, p.E1/2 | |
| Farr, Sheila | Exhibits Show a Fashion Sense You’ll Want to Devour, Seattle Times Aug. 29, p. 47H | |
| Hall, Emily | Of Sustenance, Secrets and Two Girls, The Stranger (Suggests), Vol. 12, No. 16, p. 19 |