University of Richmond Professor Wins First Prize in International Art Exhibition

January 29, 2002

Tanja Softic, associate professor of art at the University of Richmond, won first place in the Fifth Kochi International Triennial Exhibition of Prints held at the InoCho Paper Museum in Kochi, Japan.

Her print, "The Architecture of Thought," won over entries from hundreds of artists from around the world. A large, color etching, the print is one of a series Softic created last summer in the university's printmaking studio. Assisting Softic were Kathleen Caraccio, a master printer and owner of Caraccio Etching Studio in New York, and undergraduates Nicole Courtemanche of Concord, Mass., and Amanda Noell of Bedford, Va.

Her honor is "truly a stellar achievement," said university President William E. Cooper, noting that Softic competed against some of the best print artists in the world.

Softic received a B.F.A. in painting in 1988 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 1992, she received her M.F.A. in printmaking from Old Dominion University. Softic draws on medical and botanical illustrations and natural and architectural structures for inspiration.

A recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and a grant from the Soros Foundation, Softic is represented in collections in the United States and abroad, including the New York Public Library and the New South Wales Gallery of Art in Sydney, Australia.