Tanya Gayer is a curator and writer based in Sheboygan, WI. Her curatorial projects and research examine history-making processes embedded in archives, databases, governmental assimilation efforts, and algorithmic categorizations. She studies the records and stories involved with such processes to realize the impact they have in forming identity and culture. Gayer received her dual master’s degree in Curatorial Practice and Visual + Critical Studies from California College of the Arts and her BFA from University of Nevada, Reno.

Recent curatorial projects at John Michael Kohler Arts Center include: Clocking In: 2024 Arts/Industry Residents; Workplace: Justin Favela; Sunny Leerasanthanah: Naturalization; Morehshin Allahyari: ماه طلعت Moon-faced; Angela U. Drakeford: In bloom at the end of the world. In 2023, she assisted guest curator, Pachia Lucy Vang with Cloth as Land: HMong Indigeneity. Gayer has written catalog essays for: René Treviño: Stab of Guilt at Wellin Museum of Art; Alexandra Robinson: Delimitations, or words to live by at Women & Their Work; Rhonda Holberton: Still Life at CULT Exhibitions; Martin Wong: Painting is Forbidden at Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art; among others. Previous curatorial projects have exhibited at Adobe Books Backroom Gallery; CTRL + SHFT; Embark Gallery; Gray Area; Hubbell Street Galleries; Pro Arts Gallery; Root Division; Sonoma Valley Museum of Art; Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts; among many more. She has been in residence at ACRE; Rogers Art Loft; Wassaic Project; Picture Berlin; and Signal Culture. Gayer has lectured at UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, University of Mississippi, California College of the Arts, and at the CODAME Art + Tech Festival. She has held curatorial and exhibition management positions at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Soundwave, among others. She is currently the Associate Curator at John Michael Kohler Arts Center.

Email me at: tanyagayer [at] gmail [dot] com