About

Maria Cristina Tavera

Photo Credit: Xavier Tavera

Minneapolis-based artist, Maria Cristina (Tina) Tavera is a multidisciplinary artist who investigates the constructions of racial, ethnic, gender, national and cultural identity via numerous mediums including printmaking, installation, and public art. The artwork focuses on Latinidad within the United States by examining cultural signifiers determined by our society on how people define themselves and their cultures in everyday life.

Tavera holds a Master of Leadership with emphasis in the Arts from the Humphrey School at the University of Minnesota. She has received fellowships and grants: ‘23 U.S. Latinx Artist Fellowship, ‘20 McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship, Archibald Bush Leadership Fellowship, Shannon Leadership Institute, Smithsonian Latino Museum Studies program, Museum of Modern Art-New York, Forecast Public Art, Minnesota State Arts Board, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC), and Institute of Mexicans Abroad (IME). Tavera has exhibited nationally and internationally, and artwork can be found in numerous collections including: the City of Minneapolis Public Art, National Museum of Mexican Art, Museum of Fine Arts-Boston, Oglethorpe Museum-Atlanta, Fargo Plains Museum, Tweed Museum of Art, Minnesota History Center, and the Biblioteca Central de Cantabria, Santander, Spain.

Tavera is founder and Director of Serpentina Arts, a collective of Minnesota Latinx artists with a mission to foster creative and professional development. Highlights as a curator include the 2026 Resilience exhibit and the international exhibition Sus Voces: Women Printmakers in Mexico both at Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and co-curator for American Art its Complicated at the Minnesota Museum of American Art. Her writings have been published by the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, as well as in a book titled, Mexican Pulp Art.

Artist residencies:

2026 Studio Blue, Los Angeles, California.

2022 Hannaher's, Inc. Print Studio Residency, Fargo, North Dakota.

2022 Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, California.

2018 Segura Arts Studio Residency, Notre Dame Center for Arts & Culture, Notre Dame, Indiana