Meet the Artist
Ivana
Tovilla-Bátiz
Drawing and Painting (DRPT)
“Digital technologies, maquette making, collage and photography are integral to my art practice. Process is everything, and it becomes my obsession. Drawing, for me, is intimate between the artist and the surface. Graphite and charcoal are how I best express my emotions, trauma, and healing processes.Dry mediums and pencils of all kinds become an extension of my body, stretching beyond my fingertips. Manipulating a pure ground or surface is how my visual translation of the psychological transforms into a physical entity that fills a space. Working with photography and distortion, I expose my vulnerability as I strive to raise awareness about Suicide Prevention.Dejection: according to the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary and Thesaurus, is a 'feeling of being unhappy, disappointed, or without hope.' Art has given me hope and the strength to find a path forward that acknowledges the chiaroscuro that is life.”
Ivana Inés Tovilla-Bátiz is a Mexican-Canadian artist who is currently a fourth-year student at OCAD University. Ivana spent the summer of 2019 in New York City taking part in the Parsons Summer Intensive Program for Illustration at The New School. She was granted immediate entry into the Drawing and Painting program at OCAD University, where she received the Mercedes-Benz Financial Services scholarship. Ivana has exhibited in England (London), Spain (Barcelona), Canada (Parkdale, Toronto), and the United States (Baltimore and New York City). She successfully completed an AICAD exchange abroad to the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) for the Winter semester of 2023. Fluent in Spanish and English, and with basic knowledge of French, she has travelled throughout Europe, North America and Tangiers.
Maryland College of Art and Design (MICA)
General Fine Arts AICAD Exchange
Minor Completed, 2023
Parsons The New School
Pre-college Summer Intensive Program Illustration: Beyond the Page
Minor Completed, 2019
Mixed Media (Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Multi-Disciplinary mediums) Interventionist Art Stone Lithography Painterly Drawing Published Illustrator (Freisen Press, Swan Sister Treasure Book) Painting