T’Alyne completed her MFA research in printmaking and foundry at Arizona State University. Awarded a long-term Artist-in-Residence position at Camac Centre d’Art, France where she continued her research and exploration throughout Europe. Discovering the differences in color and mineral content of the soil influenced her palette. In order to capture the exact color she was seeing she began to use the natural ochres from France, Greece, and North Africa in her work. Returning to the United States by way of an International Fellowship Exchange to the VCCA, Virginia. T’Alyne now resides in Grand Rapids in a little red brick house surrounded by big trees.

Upcoming projects are the development of, Interweave, a non-profit organization focused on creating sustainable communities through collaboration and Project PATS with the Rapid, GR Transit Authority. As a professional artist, she has exhibited her work locally, nationally, and internationally and is represented by Lafontsee Gallery, Grand Rapids; Armstrong-Prior, Phoenix; and Bogena Gallerie, France. T’Alyne’s work has been included in several international collections both private and public: E.on Energie AG, Munich, Germany, Museo De Arte Contemporanco, Carrillo Gil Mexico D.F., Mexico, Grand Valley State University, Michigan, and the Kaiser Foundation, California.

Artist Statement As a small girl growing up in Michigan, I was fascinated by close-up inspections of such commonplace stuff as rocks, puddles, and trees. They provided private little worlds for the imagination that, like certain special toys, were all and only mine. The movement of light playing across these surfaces, filtering through clouds, bouncing off water, expressing the time of day, the season, and the weather changed my point of view. Seeing light filter through the canopy reminds me of riding high on the shoulders of my grandfather through the woods. I believe to deal with serious art requires a certain preparation of the mind, a relaxed synthesis whereby the mind comes into contact with the body. Where the rejuvenation of sight and thought is required to pull the act of perception into the sensorium of feeling. I observe, study, and explore color, drying times, work methods, and building techniques of my local surroundings. Currently, I am exploring these ideas through my series of projects, ‘InterAct’, in which I focus on the effects of surface and structure where light provides the means of shaping our discernment of space.

My work focuses on the importance of mark making where various physical elements connect and how this establishes relationships and bridges between our understanding of environment and self. I am currently exploring these ideas in both two-dimension and three-dimension through my paintings and sculptures. I am fascinated by how movement through, across, and between these spaces can influence and guide my art-making decisions.

Light awakens a correlating physical sensation, that which makes me aware of my body in motion. I believe the intensity of color creates momentary superficial impressions on a cognitive level. The works I create interact are objects gathered, experiments in form, and explorations of space.

T'Alyne