Bartira, Uiara

Bartira, Uiara

1949

Uiara Bartira graduated in fine art from the Escuela de Musica e Belas Artes do Paraná, Curitiba in 1977, and later studied engraving, drawing and painting at the Centro de Criatividade de Curitiba (1976-1980). In 1982 she pursued further specialist study in New York, completing courses in drawing and printmaking, at the Art Students' League, and photo-engraving, at the Bob Blackburn Workshop. Bartira's practice of the early 1980s developed through reflexive theoretical-practical projects, such as 'Anthropophagy, the Question of the Senses', and 'Etching Space and the Macrocosm'. In 1989 she completed a Master of Arts thesis entitled 'the Evolution of Aesthetics in Brazilian Etching', while acting as the founding director of Curitiba's Museu da Gravura. From her early career Bartira has been active as a teacher. Setting up schools and workshops in Curitiba such as Primeira Forma (1978), and the etching studio at the Casa de Gravura (1980), she has been of instrumental influence upon a generation of printmaking teachers and practitioners in the state of Paraná. Her own work has been widely exhibited within solo and group exhibitions and Bartira has also acted as curator for printmaking exhibitions, including the IX (1990) and X (1992) 'Mostra da Gravura Cidade de Curitiba'; and retrospectives of individual artists including Farnese de Andrade (1997), Jorge Guinle (1998), and Poty Lazzaroto (1999). Her doctoral thesis, which concerns etching as a contemporary art form, developed from the exhibition Brasil/Reflexão 97: A Arte Contemporanea da Gravura, organised by Bartira in 1997. In 2001 Bartira opened a new space for experimentation, investigation and research: the 104 Laboratario de Arte in Rio de Janeiro; here she has worked alongside Alex Gama, Gianguido Bonfanti, Adriana Tabalipa, Monica Mansur and Sonia Couto, and continues to develop her own theoretical and practical work.