“Rich in storytelling and powerful in narrative, Anna Torma’s oeuvre intimately embodies uncertain human experiences of kinship, aggression, love, fear, loss, aging and death. Her large-scale embroidered textile works are ambitious and expressive, detailed with personal symbolism and iconography. Rigorous and materially intelligent, her engagement with the history of textiles and their traditional techniques, along with her fearless and emotive use of needle and thread, reflect a personal yet inclusive life journey. For over four decades, Anna Torma’s practice, vision and steadfast commitment to the medium have influenced both the craft and art milieus, moving far beyond the immediate. Torma’s works reach far outward, into the future, the present and the past, enveloping the viewer within the wealth of their material language, their layered interpretation and powerful human connections. Congratulations!”
– Peer assessment committee
Anna Torma is a visual artist working in textile. She was born in Tarnaörs, Hungary, in 1952 and graduated with a degree in Textile Art and Design from the Hungarian University of Applied Arts in 1979. She has been an exhibiting artist since then and has produced mainly large-scale hand-embroidered wall hangings and collages. Anna’s work draws inspiration from folk art, anatomical sketches, gardens and graffiti, methodically composing fantastical stories.
Anna has exhibited her work internationally and is represented in many public, private and corporate collections, including the Museum of Arts and Design, in New York City, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, in Halifax, and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, in Fredericton. She was a 2014 recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for High Achievement in Visual Arts. Anna immigrated to Canada in 1988 and has lived and worked in Baie Verte, New Brunswick, since 2002.
Selected works
Anna Torma, Bestiary 3, 2004, hand embroidery on linen, reverse appliqué, cotton threads, 150 cm x 134 cm. Private collection, Montréal.
Photo: Guy L’Heureux
Anna Torma, Permanent Danger (front), 2017, hand embroidery and reverse appliqué on 3 layers of linen, silk threads, double-sided work, 160 cm x 125 cm. Artist’s collection.
Photo: John Dean
Anna Torma, Random Landscape 1, 2, 3, 2015, hand embroidery and collage on multilayered silk organza, silk threads, double-sided works, 210 cm x 140 cm. Beaverbrook Art Gallery collection.
Photo: John Dean
