Biography
Tatjana Mirkov-Popovicki is an award-winning Canadian visual artist and storyteller based in British Columbia where she emigrated from Serbia in 1994. Her body of work comprising abstract and landscape paintings is an expression of the ideas of the homeland. She lives in Port Moody on the ancestral and unceded homelands of the Kwikwetlem, Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam, Squamish, Katzie, Kwantlen, Qayqayt, and Sto:lo Peoples, and extends appreciation for the opportunity to reside on this territory.
Over the past twenty years, Tatjana made hundreds of representational landscape paintings based on her travels to the traditional territories of the indigenous nations of western Canada. The images she created in the process were born from her love for the country, and her need to connect with the land that had accepted her as an immigrant when she was twenty-nine. Her work celebrates the Canadian landscape while bringing up concerns over how the land and its peoples have been treated. The fragmentation in her abstract paintings evokes collisions and disorientation: the messiness of memory, colonial violence, nostalgia around homeland, gratitude, and optimism for a better future.
Tatjana is a candidate in the Master of Fine Arts graduate studies program at Emily Carr University, the 2025 cohort. Her work has been exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions in western Canada including Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Michael Wright Art Gallery, Silk Purse Gallery, Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre, and Gibsons Public Art Gallery. She received awards from the Federation of Canadian Artists, the Canadian Institute of Portrait Painters, and the International Society of Acrylic Painters. Her art has been published in the International Artist Magazine, Visionary Arts Magazine, and Canadian Arabella Magazine. She has been juried into the Glacier National Park’s Art in the Park residency and the Pacific Northwest Plein Air by the Maryhill Art Museum in Washington, USA.
Tatjana has been actively involved in the art community through the art councils across Greater Vancouver and the Federation of Canadian Artists where she served as a President on the Board of Directors and holds the designation of a Senior Signature Artist (SFCA) and Honorable Lifetime Member.
To read about Tatjana’s literary journey please visit her Storytelling Page.
CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION
2023 MFA Graduate Studies 2025 cohort, Emily Carr University of Art & Design, Vancouver, BC
2020-2021 Painting Certificate, Emily Carr University of Art & Design, Vancouver, BC
2001-2004 Continuing Education, Vancouver Art Academy, Vancouver, BC
2000-2001 Continuing Business Education, Sauder School of Business, UBC, Vancouver, BC
1991 BSc in Electrical Engineering, Yugoslavia
ONE + TWO ARTIST EXHIBITIONS
2023 Coastal Sentinels, Gibsons Public Art Gallery, Gibsons, BC
2022 Coastal Sentinels, Michael Wright Art Gallery, Port Coquitlam, BC
2022 Deliverance: Reimagining Coastal Scenes, Kay Meek Arts Centre, West Vancouver, BC
2021 Coastal Spirit, PoMoArts, Port Moody Arts Council, BC
2020 Land Love Unfolding, Vancouver Civic Theaters, Vancouver, BC
2018 Patterns of Our Land, Silk Purse Gallery, West Vancouver Arts Council, BC
2017 Good Land, Studio Connexion Gallery, Nakusp, BC
2015 BC Landscapes, Hycroft Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2014 Yoho, Buckland Southerst Gallery, West Vancouver, BC
2010 BC Landscapes, Chemainus Theatre Gallery, Chemainus, BC
2007-2013 Western Landscapes, Lando Gallery, Edmonton, AB
2008 BC Landscapes, The Old School House Gallery, Qualicum Beach, BC
2005 BC Landscapes, Lambert’s Gallery, Vancouver, BC
SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 ArtRich, Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, BC
2023 Culture Crawl Exhibition, The Pendulum Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2023 Art in the Park Residency Exhibition, Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre, Revelstoke, BC
2022 Art of Recycling Exhibition, Deer Lake Gallery, Burnaby, BC
2021, 2022 On the Edge International, Federation Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2020 Signature Artists Medal Show, Federation Gallery, BC
2019 ArtRich, Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, BC
2019 Luminescence IV, Deer Lake Gallery, Burnaby, BC
2019 You Are Here, North Vancouver Arts Council
2018 West of Main Art Walk, Artists in Our Midst, Vancouver, BC
2017 Pacific North West Plein Air, Maryhill Museum of Art, Goldendale, WA
2014 Prominent Female Artists, International Art Gallery, Vancouver
2013 Watercolor Biennale, International Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2011 Bugaboo’s 10, Canada House Gallery, Banff, AB
2010 Curated Portraiture, Campbell River Art Gallery, BC
2010 Crossing Boundaries, Chinese Cultural Museum, Vancouver, BC
2009 Open Water, Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolor, Calgary, AB
2006, 2007, 2008 Splash, Art Auction & Gala, Arts Umbrella, Vancouver, BC
2004, 2005, 2007 On the Edge International, Federation Gallery, Vancouver, BC
RESIDENCIES
2022 Art in the Park Residency, Glacier National Park, Parks Canada, BC
AWARDS
2022 Norval Morrisseau Award for Visual Arts, Surrey Muse Awards, Longlisted
2020 Paint on the Mountain, Pacific British Properties, Jury Selection, Vancouver, BC
2019 FCA 365 Project, Federation of Canadian Artists, First Place, Vancouver, BC
2018 Annual Open, International Society of Acrylic Painters, Second Place, USA
2017 Pacific Northwest Plein Air, Maryhill Museum of Art, Jury Selection, Goldendale, WA
2009 Federation of Canadian Artists, Honorable Lifetime Membership, Vancouver, BC
2009 Federation of Canadian Artists, Senior Signature Artist, Vancouver, BC
2008 CIPA National Competition in Portraiture, Second Place, Calgary, AB
2007 Painting on the Edge, International Competition, Award of Distinction, Vancouver, BC
2006 CIPA National Competition in Portraiture, Award of Distinction, Calgary, AB
2005 Art Fusion Regional Competition of Alberta, Excellence Award, Red Deer, AB
2005 Artist Wine Label Award, Calona Vineyard Competition, Jury Selection, Vancouver, BC
COLLECTIONS
Canadian Cancer Society, Burnaby, BC
Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Vancouver, BC
Federation of Canadian Artists, Vancouver, BC
Lions Gate Hospital Foundation, North Vancouver, BC
PRESS
Michael Gurney, ‘Artist trio brims with bark and bite at GPAG’, Coast Reporter, 2023 Aug
Carol Crena, ‘How to create your own art style’, Art Avenue, 2023 Summer
Alyssa M. Tidwell, ‘Expressive Patterns’, International Artist Magazine, 2023 Feb/Mar
Jaya Franklin, 'Tatjana Mirkov-Popovicki: Connecting With Nature', Visionary Artistry Magazine, 2022 Dec
Mina Kerr-Lazenby, '10 cultural offerings worth penciling in the diary this week (Nov. 21-27)', Yahoo! News Canada, 2022 Nov
Deb Usher, ‘The Artist Showcase’, Arabella, 2022 Jul
Geoff Scott, ‘Coastal Spirit Exhibit’, Tri-Cities Community Television, 2021 Aug
Genevieve Wynand, Front cover art by Tatjana Mirkov-Popovicki, Pulp Literature Magazine Issue 31, 2021 Jul
Susan Schaefer, ‘Featured Artist Tatjana Mirkov-Popovicki’, Island Arts Magazine Issue 53, 2021 Mar-Apr
Eve Lees, ‘Featured Artist Tatjana Mirkov-Popovicki’, The Artists’ Journal, 2020 Apr-May-Jun
Daniel Chai, ‘7 things to do in Vancouver today: Monday, February 17’, Daily Hive, 2020 Feb
Janis Cleugh, ’West coast landscapes by PM artist at the QE theatre lobby’, Tri-City News, 2020 Jan
Daniel Chai, ‘7 things to do in Vancouver today: Tuesday, September 4’, Daily Hive, 2018 Aug
Samuel Lopes, ‘Un calendrier pour une cartographie culturelle’, La Source, 2018 Dec
Janis Cleugh, ‘Artists' memories for PMAC 20’, Tri-City News, 2018 Apr
Janis Cleugh, ’Serbian painter shows Canadian landscapes in Port Moody’, Tri-City News, 2017 Mar
Erin Knutson, ‘Picture perfect backdrop: Plein Air Festival at Kilby’, Agassiz Harrison Observer, 2016 Sep
Mari Sasano, ‘Passion for paint reborn in Canadian wilderness’, The Edmonton Journal, 2015 Jan
Mari Sasano, ‘Cory Christopher tied his floral design for the At in Bloom festival to a series of Rocky Mountains paintings by Vancouver artist Tatjana Mirkov-Popovicki’, The Vancouver Sun, 2015 Jul
Emily Isaacson, Front cover art by Tatjana Mirkov-Popovicki, A Familiar Shore, 2015
Danielle LaBrie, ‘S.H.E. Sharing Her Experience’, S.H.E. Sharing Her Experience Volume 1, Issue 1, 2014
Janice Kyan, ‘Reflections of the country that nurtured her creativity’, Edmonton Sun, 2010 Jun
Olenka Melnyk, ‘Fascinated by the familiar’, Edmonton’s Avenue Magazine, 2009 Mar
Kelli Kadokawa, ‘A painting in the life of Tatjana Mirkov-Popovicki’, Art Avenues, 2008 Dec
Mari Sasano, ‘Serbian artist’s exhibition in Lando gallery’, Edmonton Sun, 2007 Nov
Robert Genn, ‘Boat Stories & Art’, Pacific Yachting, 2007 Sep/Oct
AFFILIATIONS
Art Councils of Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Burnaby, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Richmond
Federation of Canadian Artists
International Society of Acrylic Painters
Women’s Art Museum of Canada