Ioana Tămaş was born in 1988, in Cluj, Romania. Here, she started her study in ceramics at the Art College, age fourteen. After college, she studied at the University of Art and Design, Cluj, where she received her Bachelors and Master's degree in ceramics. During her study, she undertook two internships abroad, one in Belgium, Liege, and one in Turkey, Eskisehir. This helped her broaden her perspective in art and her future as an artist. When she graduated from the University of Arts, Cluj, she moved to Eindhoven, The Netherlands. There, she worked in a shared studio open for artists, focusing on developing her work and sharing her experience as ceramic artist. Since 2022, she has opened her own studio, where she is further experimenting and developing her art. Ioana creates work for exhibitions and art events in the country and abroad.

“In my work, I like to explore shapes and textures built out of clay. I bind together the figurative and abstract to create a fantastical world with seemingly impossible creatures but with very relatable emotions. I explore the darker side of the psyche with sensitivity and beauty. My sculptures are hand built. This way, I'm giving more attention to the shape and leave any traces of fingerprints and strokes that appear in the making process. I give a patina with ceramic pigments to accentuate the texture and use the ceramic lithography technique to build a character. I am searching to create images and forms of living that show both fragility and strength. I search how to make a story using as few words and details as possible and lead the viewer to fantasise, creating his or her own story.”