The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 8, 2026

Five horizontally oriented crayon and graphite drawings feature centered spirals arranged in two rows. The top row includes a black spiral with radiating lines, a multi-colored pastel spiral, and a blue spiral with horizontal strokes. Below, the spiral to our left consists of vibrant orange and yellow radiating lines, while the right spiral uses gray, blocky vertical marks. Each composition explores rhythmic texture on individual cream sheets.

Spirals

1973

Athena Tacha

(American, b. 1936)
America
Five sheets with black crayon, colored crayons, wax crayon, and graphite
Gift of Athena Tacha 2025.211
© Athena Tacha
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This series is one of several works in which Tacha has explored imagery of spirals throughout her career.

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. In her exploratory series of drawings, Spirals, Tacha used various media to render layered circular forms on sketchbook paper. The works represent a theme that recurred in the artist’s work throughout her career, and one that she once described as recalling shells and galaxies.
  • {{cite web|title=Spirals|url=false|author=Athena Tacha|year=1973|access-date=08 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2025.211