Tegan Brozyna

Tegan M Brozyna, a Philadelphia area native, splits her time between Brooklyn and Philadelphia. She received a B.A. in Painting from Messiah College, and recently completed a Post-Baccalaureate Fellowship at New York Center for Art and Media Studies in Manhattan. She has exhibited throughout the northeast at such institutions as LGTripp Gallery in Philadelphia, PA and Porter Contemporary in New York, as well as internationally in Orvieto, Italy. Tegan was a recipient of the Daniel Vollmer Art Scholarship from 2003-2007.

You can see more of Tegan’s work on her website.

Drawing from both her painting and textile background, Tegan's current work focuses on the relationship of place and boundaries. By dissecting and reconfiguring old landscapes in the form of paper maps, Brozyna examines everyday borders while also creating new spaces and terrain. In 2014, three of Tegan’s pieces will be on exhibit at the Philadelphia International Airport. 

 

I get the best creative ideas when I’m…. simply observing the world around me. I love finding small but beautiful objects from nature, seeing how light changes in the leaves of trees depending on the time of day, and observing how scraps in paint or cracks in the sidewalk create amazing abstract compositions. You never know what you will find and that fuels me.

 

 My favorite space to create looks like….I currently work out of a small home studio, but regardless of the size of space it needs to be clean, calming and organized (perhaps a rarity for many painters). Often you will find ideas, lists and inspirational images taped to the wall along with small paintings and mockups.

 

My top 3 sources of creativity are…

 

A. Observing my habitat/the world around me

B. Figuring out color palettes especially those in textiles

C. The act of making. Process is important to me, and while I am working on piece I often get ideas for other works or other techniques.

 

 When I need a new idea I…..go outside and explore! I have an inquisitive nature and if my internal environment feels a little constrictive or dry I like to go for a walk, look at other people’s artwork for inspiration and/or I sketch in my sketchbook. You never know where ideas will come from so I think it’s important to be open and take things in. Since youth I’ve kept a folder of inspiration full of magazine clippings, show cards and other images from nature and art I love.

 

 I know that a piece is finished when…it feels balanced. Although it’s not necessarily a conscious effort my work tends to strive for a sense of peace. Even if a piece is organic or  asymmetrical it needs to have a sense of visual balance in its composition and coloring. 

 

 When something isn’t working the way that I planned it to I…let it go. I think art making is as much about learning what works as it is about discovering what doesn’t. If a piece is not working sometimes I put it aside and tackle it again months or years later. Sometimes time and distance gives you new perspective and a work can be saved or incorporated into something else. If all else fails I think it’s important to accept defeat, learn from it, and either whitewash a painting or chuck it!

 

 I create because…something in me needs to. Picasso once said that all children are artists, and I think perhaps there is something in me that never quite grew up; I still maintain a certain type of curiosity with the world around me. I am constantly asking questions and seeking answers and art making helps me to make sense of the world. It makes my world more vivid and beautiful.

 

 My work is about…seeing the world in the round. I want to see how things connect and I am particularly interested in how cellular forms come together to form a larger whole. I love creating and exploring relationships between place, form, and color. In my currently body of work I am particularly interested in how humans dissect the world around them. Mainly working with maps, I am exploring boundaries and creating new landscapes and terrain.