The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 8, 2026

Felt tip pen on horizontally oriented graph rag vellum features an undulating band of vibrant color. Dabs of pink, blue, green, and yellow ink adhere to the grid, creating a pixelated shape that narrows and expands across the surface. Several rectangles outlined in black overlay this central form. The surrounding ground is composed of densely packed black ink squares, forming a textured void that frames the rhythmic, colorful movement within the dark field.

Cosmic Jets

1983

Athena Tacha

(American, b. 1936)
America
Felt tip pen on graph rag vellum
Sheet: 40.6 x 78.7 cm (16 x 31 in.)
Gift of Athena Tacha 2025.210
© Athena Tacha
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The sculpture to which this drawing relates was proposed as a public artwork for the campuses of both the University of Alaska and the University of Florida, although it was not ultimately realized.

Description

Born in Greece, Athena Tacha studied in Paris before obtaining advanced degrees in both art history and fine art. She eventually settled in Oberlin, Ohio, where she served as both the first curator of modern art for Oberlin College’s Allen Memorial Art Museum, and later as a professor of sculpture for several decades. Around this time, she began to create site-specific environmental sculpture—the medium for which she is best known. Cosmic Jets relates to, in the artist’s words, a “proposal for a tile-faced staircase on a waterfront or urban plaza.” It translates the mosaic-influenced concept of this design into squares of saturated tones and was considered an artwork in its own right, exhibited by the artist several times in later decades.
  • Athena Tacha: Sculpting With/In Nature (1975-2013). Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ (2013).
    Athena Tacha: Massacre Memorials and Other Public Projects. Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York (1984).
  • {{cite web|title=Cosmic Jets|url=false|author=Athena Tacha|year=1983|access-date=08 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2025.210