• born in 1952 in Tarnaörs, Hungary
• immigrated to Toronto, Ontario in 1988
• studied at Hungarian Academy of Applied Arts in Budapest, (Department of Textiles) Budapest, Hungary (1974-1979)

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Anna Torma was introduced to textile art by both her mother and grandmother who taught her hand sewing and embroidery. Her study of textiles at the Hungarian Academy of Applied Arts in Budapest from 1974 to 1979 coincided with the growing popularity of fibre production by artists from abroad. Since textile practice was not considered a fine art, it afforded Hungarian artists greater creative freedom because they were not as closely monitored by the Hungarian government as artists who were producing in other media. Torma’s textile structures incorporate numerous techniques such as embroidery, patchwork, appliqué, quilting, and felting. First she assembles a patchwork base often composed of discarded fabric, such as old clothing, and proceeds to produce textile drawings in embroidery upon this ground. "My goal is to create innovative textile based work which blanches craft with concept into femininity, domesticity, and ethnicity," Torma wrote in 1996. Torma’s embroidered designs are often based upon her children’s drawings and hand writing. "This borrowing of images and compilation permits Torma to infuse her spiritual, personal, and mundane experiences with those of others" (Theresa Morin, 1996). In Quotations (1994) Torma’s embroidered images and texts include excerpts from her children’s notebooks, charting her children’s learning process. Lullaby I (1996) consists of pieces of cheesecloth stitched together and embellished with floral motifs found in Hungarian textiles. A participant in numerous international textile art conferences, in 1994 Torma took part in the European Textile Network Conference in Budapest. She has taught art at the Burlington Art Centre and given lectures at the Harbourfront Centre and Sheridan College in Toronto, Ontario.

Homer Watson House and Gallery, Kitchener, Ontario

Gallery Duna, Budapest, Hungary

Szombathelyi Keptar, Szombathely, Hungary

SOFA, New York, New York

Public Hanging, Hamilton, Ontario

Swedish Textile Museum, Boras, Sweden

Material Bliss
Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

The Bedcover
York Quay Gallery, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario

Fancy
Museum for Textiles, Toronto, Ontario

Ontario Crafts 95: A Biennial Juried Exhibition of Works by Members of the Ontario Crafts Council
The Craft Gallery, Ontario Crafts Council, Toronto, Ontario

Defining the Site
Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario

Sampler Art
Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, Massachussetts

American Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, California

11th Fibreart International
Graz, Austria

Modern Embroidery
Musée de la Maison du Lin, Routot, France

The Voirrey Embroidery Centre, England

Augustiner Museum, Freiburg, Germany

Textilmuseum Berk, Heidelberg, Germany

Fibreart International
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Skin and Bones
John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

Ontario Crafts
Chalmers Building, Toronto, Ontario

2nd International Triennial
Tournai, Belgium

Gallery Stappman, Munich, Germany

Palazzo Falconeri, Rome, Italy

Textures, Exhibition of Minitextiles
Luxembourg

9th Textile Biennial
Szombathely, Hungary

Barrett, Dale, et al. Ontario Crafts 95: A Biennial Juried Exhibition of Works by Members of the Ontario Crafts Council. Toronto, Ontario: Ontario Crafts Council, 1995.

Inglis, Grace. "Designer Crafts '89: A show and sale of contemporary crafts."  Ontario Craft (Summer 1989): 31.

Morin, Theresa. "Anna Torma: Intimate textile drawings." Fibrearts 22 (January/February 1996): 29.

---. Notes and Visions: The Embroideries of Anna Torma. Sheboygan, Wisconsin: John Michael Kohler Arts Center, 1997.

Orban, Nancy. Fibreart Design Book Four. Asheville, North Carolina: Lark Books, 1991.

Torma, Anna. "Artist's Statement." In Cement: Cultural Equity Mentoring Program. Hamilton, Ontario: Hamilton Artists Inc., 1996.

Vadas, J. "The beauty of the vaste." Life and Literature (1987): n.p.

Willard, John. "Torma, Anna. Textile drawings. Burlington Arts Centre." Ontario Craft 20, no. 2 (Summer 1995): 24.

Wylie, Robert. "Skin and Bones. The John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto." Ontario Craft 19, no. 1 (Spring 1994): 23.