Tanya de Paor completed her MA at Belfast College of Art, University of Ulster. Her MA work was awarded the UTV Travel Scholarship for a Young Artist, at the Ulster Museum, in association with the Royal Academy. In 2000 she wasselected by the Irish Film Centre, Dublin to attend FIPA International in Biarritz. In 1998 she was chosen for Random Access Film/video training with the Sculpture Society of Ireland. Additional awards include Art Flights Arts Council of Ireland and a Travel Award in conjunction with the Arts Council and Aer Lingus. At this time, she was also selected for a residency programme at MIC, Limerick co funded between the college and the Arts Council of Ireland.

She has exhibited widely in events such as at the Medfilm Festival/laboratory “Cinema, Identity and Emigration”, 2000 in Rome, and the 44th Cork Film Festival, Irish Shorts, The Irish Film Centre, Dublin, Triskel Arts Centre, various group shows; and has exhibited in Berlin, The United States, Belfast, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Mexico and London.

Tanya’s work is multi faceted incorporating photography, sculpture, video and fibre based work. As part of the collaborative profile she maintains she has worked extensively on design commissions in particular in conjunction with dance. Recent pieces on which she worked with dancer/ choreographer and lecturer Mary Nunan included “Together and Apart”, a performance piece commissioned for the International Dance Festival, at Project Arts Centre in Dublin 2002.

She is a founder member of Opera Project MIC, which was commissioned to produce a children’s Opera for the Wexford Festival Opera’s 50th anniversary, which was performed in Limerick and Wexford.

Tanya lectures in Visual Art Education at MIC, University of Limerick, and is currently on the committee for the % for Art Scheme proposed for the new campus. She was elected Fellow of the RSA (Royal Society of Arts, London) in 2000.