Tegan Brozyna Roberts
Tegan Brozyna Roberts is a mixed media artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY. She received an MFA from Brooklyn College, where she was a Graduate Teaching Fellow and recipient of the Dean’s Award. Brozyna Roberts has exhibited nationally and internationally, including group shows at Heather Gaudio Fine Art in New Canaan, CT; Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn, NY; Groundfloor Gallery in Brooklyn, NY; and Icelandic Textile Center in Blönduós, Iceland. Her solo exhibitions include those at Established Gallery in Brooklyn, Material Exhibitions in Chicago, and the Philadelphia International Airport. Her work has also been displayed at Art on Paper New York, Art Miami, and Seattle Art Fair. In 2019, Brozyna Roberts participated in Meta Open Arts (formerly Facebook AIR), culminating in a permanent installation at Facebook’s New York office.
Artist Statement
Drawing from a background in landscape painting, my work focuses on relationships—specifically, my relationship to my environment. Material and process are vital to this practice, and although the work has the appearance of abstraction, it finds its genesis in reality. I am particularly drawn to source material that imbues a sense of history, time, and place. The unique contours of a sidewalk crack, the multicolored strata of paint on an old fence, and even uninhibited scribbles on a discarded piece of paper become the genesis for my work. By finding the intimate in the immense landscape and breaking down its complexity, I am better able to relate to and understand the world around me.
With my dimensional collages, I mine the traditions, techniques, and language of textiles to create physicality and meaning. Borrowing from the lexicon of weaving, clusters of painted paper are layered and suspended in space by the tension of threads. It is a meditative conversation with my materials as I create a sense of balance and order. Small fragments of paper are woven together to form a new landscape where layers of color harmonize and vibrate against each other. This physical act of building up the surface from smaller fragments is akin to stones accumulating into a mountain.
How has the environment you grew up in affected your art practice?
I grew up in rural/suburban Pennsylvania and spent part of my summers in the Adirondack Mountains. Many of my childhood memories involve playing outside and exploring my world in minute detail. Leaves of grass were forests for my toys, and puddles became lakes. This helped me appreciate the smaller, more overlooked aspects of my environment. Conversely, the greater landscape was mesmerizing and magical to me. The weather in the Adirondacks constantly changes and alters the landscape. The mountains perpetually shift in color and mood, making them hard to capture. I still try to hold onto this sense of wonder and allow it to inspire my work.
If your artwork was a mirror, what would it reflect?
There is a lot in this world that feels overwhelming, but I hope that my artwork reflects a need to find and cultivate beauty. Harmony is a powerful foil to turmoil. I think that carving out visual spaces that allow us to breathe and recenter is vital.
What is the most difficult part (or your least favorite part) of your process?
I mount my collages onto wooden panels, and the process of preparing these surfaces requires a lot of time. Sanding, priming, and painting is repetitive, so it can feel monotonous when I work on a batch of panels. However, experience has taught me that rushing through only causes more headaches later in the making process. I try to use this time while my hands are busy to think, dream, and plan.
Pursuing ‘artist’ as a career is not for the faint of heart. What is the most rewarding aspect of this pursuit?
As an artist, you spend a lot of time with your artwork. It can be easy to feel too close to it, both physically and emotionally. It’s like you’re so focused on that color or composition that you can’t see the forest for the trees. I find it refreshing when you put the work out into the world, and someone else falls in love with it. Their take on the piece can help you see with fresh eyes. You’re able to experience your own art in a new way, which can breathe life into your studio practice.
If your art is in a lineage of artists working within similar veins, who would be part of your lineage and why?
I must admit that my lineage starts with Impressionism. Not that there is anything wrong with the Impressionist artists, but I feel like I’ve been oversaturated by them. Growing up, I had an art teacher who loved Impressionism. It seemed like every drawing or painting we made in class was an homage to Manet, Cassatt, or Degas. She went so far as to forbid the use of black paint and taped it over in our watercolor trays. As much as I secretly snuck into the black paint, I never shook the Impressionists’ use of “broken color" to optically mix colors on the canvas.
Matisse is also an integral artist for me due to his focus on color and his interest in beauty and harmony. Matisse’s paper cuts have been particularly inspiring. He embraced paper as a material with all its strengths and limitations. I love the way he physically created his forms with scissors and how he allowed himself to play with his compositions. In many ways, Matisse’s paper collages questioned the hierarchy of fine art vs. decoration vs. craft. I continue to be drawn to contemporary artists who embrace various materials and techniques, as well as those who defy strict boundaries, such as Polly Apfelbaum, Sheila Hicks, Justine Hill, Amanda Valdez, Jean Alexander Frater, Erin Juliana, and Melissa Dadourian.
