Artist Detail

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Tonya Henderson Rollyson

Poet - Visual Artist

About the artist: New shop opened on Etsy:
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Artist Website:
www.TonyaHendersonRollyson.com

Find also on Fine Art America:
http://fineartamerica.com/art/all/Tonya+Henderson+Rollyson/all

It is said "to know and understand the art is to know and understand the artist". This is certainly true for the works of Tonya Henderson Rollyson. Her curiosity of where thoughts come from & what emotions are triggered by these thoughts will not only leave you with a better understanding of the artist but perhaps an appreciation for the courage it takes to present oneself in such an honest & forthright manner

Each piece contains a fluidity of movement, which integrates circles, spirals and swirls of color into landscapes or places of the mind. They contain a message about the artist’s thoughts, feelings and states of being. Tonya’s paintings are a record of her examination of the mind, and the exploration into originating thought, or the thought behind the thought, that triggers emotion.



Tonya Henderson Rollyson's path as an artist began at an early age as she was "born into a very creative family". She explains of the artistic backgrounds on both sides of her family, an artist, a writer, and a seamstress among them. Her interest in drawing began with the birds, as she watched them build nests and community outside of her second-story bedroom window on the family farm in Central Lower Michigan she was compelled to draw them.



Tonya’s real passion for art blossomed in a Jr. High School art class that inspired her to enroll in a summer workshop at the Flint Institute of Art in the heart of Flints Cultural District. Later Tonya went on to study Visual Communications at the Colorado Institute of Art (CIA) in Denver Colorado where she explored mediums such as pastels, inks, photography and acrylics.



While attending the CIA Tonya joined a small group of artists that made up the Student Freelance Team to support her attendance, and began creating murals, logo designs and brochures. Upon graduation she found opportunity in her home state at WJRT-TV as an on-air graphic designer. This began a ten-year career in graphic design, leading her to advertising agencies and design firms and landing her in Bluefield West Virginia and later, Virginia. Tonya says of Bluefield "it was a small border town which spread across the two Virginias, we crossed state lines but only moved about ten miles away".


It was in Bluefield that Tonya’s career began to change. She joined the Appalachian Artist Associations Board of Directors and exhibited with its members at area venues. At the Annual All Media Exhibition she entered three works, one in mixed media earning her a second place award & a purchase award, and two works in watercolor, earning an honorable mention & an additional purchase award, her move into a fine art career was well underway.



At a time when her new career was beginning to take shape, family crisis brought her back to her home in Michigan. Tonya took the opportunity to change everything about her life. She created an after school elementary art program and began teaching two days a week. She joined the Left Bank co-op gallery, displaying her work and working on their fundraising committee. She attended the Fenton Artist Guild to exhibit with them and to draw from the models that group provided each week.


Tonya’s teaching expanded to include additional schools, then adult classes in both drawing and painting. She found that the experience of teaching forced her to look closer at her own use of the materials as a way to better explain the techniques to her students. Tonya explains "this practice has made me a better painter: I believe that to be a great teacher you must thoroughly know your subject and for me that subject has become the painting medium that I have continued to return to throughout my life, Acrylics".



At this time in her life Tonya’s work took a close up view of the world, as she painted small objects found in nature on a scale larger than life, pointing out a single branch, solitary apple or one lone flower cradled in the marsh. As she continued drawing with the Fenton guild members her work transitioned into figurative and portrait pieces earning her several commissions. Her children were also a source of inspiration in many of her figurative paintings.



There had always been a spiritual theme that wove itself in and out of Tonya’s work from the early days at the CIA to the greeting card line she developed while in Virginia called "Angelwork", to the present. However, a turning point came in her life and work when she made a conscious decision to explore her thoughts about life, god, emotions and the balance between the real and surreal.



Tonya’s work gives a tangible visual description to her ideas, expressing her deepest thoughts and exposing the inner workings of her mind. She reveals to us our own potential for growth and awareness. "I believe that by being genuinely authentic with ourselves, then with others, we can heal wounded egos and lift each other up to even higher levels of self awareness and expression." Her hope is to create a body of work that mirrors both the tragedy of self inflicted wounds and the potential within, to heal, find happiness, and unite as one human race.