Uma Rani Iyli

Born in Bangalore, India in 1974, Uma Rani Iyli’s studio practice has been based in the San

Francisco Bay Area since 1996. She received her foundation art education at the College of Fine

Arts, Bangalore. At the age of twenty-one, she moved to the United States and continued her

studies at California College of Arts graduating in 2003 with a BFA in Sculpture. Over the past

few years, Uma’s career has launched with various nationwide exhibitions including the New

York Chelsea based JanKossens Gallery and Marin Museum of Contemporary Art. In 2018,

Uma’s work was featured by the Zellerbach Foundation, highlighted with an interview in Under

The Radar contemporary artists by ArtSlant, and launched for the first time at Miami Scope Art

Fair. In 2019, her work was recognized with a nomination for the TOSA Award by Minnesota

Street Project, the SECA award by the SFMOMA, and featured in the exhibition “Woven

Stories” at the Lancaster Museum of Art and History. In 2020, her work was included in The

de Young Open Exhibition at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. In 2021, Uma completed

her largest corporate permanent installation commissioned by the Meta Open Arts Program for

their Fremont, California location. Her fiber work was also recognized with Juror's Choice

Awards by Kelsey Marie Issel, Arts Program Consultant & Co-founder of She Bends, and Justin

Hoover, The Executive Director of Chinese Historical Society of America, through ArtSpan's

2021 Open Studios Exhibition at SOMArts in San Francisco. In 2023 her fiber work received

Juror's Choice Exhibition Award by Renee Cyla Villasenor, Programs Manager & Curatorial

Associate at ICA SF, through Left Coast Annual Juried Exhibition, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA.

Uma’s work has been selected for 2023 de Young Open Exhibition at the De Young Museum in

San Francisco.

Uma maintains two studios, one in San Francisco at Dogpatch Collective and another in Los Angeles