Glass & Braids with Bria Tyler

Photos & Words by Cameron Dorsey

Multidisciplinary artist Bria Tyler has been making serious waves in the art space across the 757 over the past year. After expanding from only painting and drawing to three-dimensional works of art, Bria has been featured in some of the premier spaces and galleries Virginia has to offer; being featured in numerous shows including exhibitions in ODU’s Barry Arts Museum and Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, where she serves as a studio instructor, and winning Best in Show in the 2023 Juried Student Exhibition at the Baron & Ellin Gordon Galleries. This has culminated in Bria winning an exhibition in the Chrysler Museum’s Perry Glass Studio, where we got the chance to catch the unveiling and discuss her art and recent success.

So first I want to start with your earliest experience with art.

I've always done art my entire life, even from elementary school all the way up until now, but I probably didn't take art seriously until maybe two years ago. I knew I wanted to be a teacher my entire life; I just wasn't sure what kind I wanted it to be. Initially, I was studying early childhood and elementary education, and I was working at a childcare center. I knew this wasn't the type of teacher I wanted to be for the rest of my life, and I felt I could do so much more. I was always into crafts when teaching there, so I decided to try going to school to be an art teacher. The program that I'm in requires you to have studio classes as well as education classes. They try to teach you to become a better artist first and then a better educator. So, having the time to work on my craft made me take it more seriously, and I also wanted to be a better artist in general. 

Where did you get that desire to teach?

I don't know. Anytime anybody ever asked, "Oh, what do you want to be when you grow up?" I would always answer "a teacher". It might also just be because I genuinely enjoy school, and I generally enjoy learning. Being an educator gives me an excuse to always be in school, just in a different way.

With you starting out being more invested in the education aspect rather than the artistry, how do you handle the recent attention/notoriety for your art?

It's definitely something I'm getting used to. It's so funny because I tell this story that, a couple of weeks ago, I was in the elevator at school, and this girl was like, "Are you Bria Tyler?" and I was like, "Uh yeah, I am?" So recently, it's been an adjustment for me to tell myself you are an artist because that's not something that I initially thought about. So, getting attention is definitely new for me, but I enjoy being known as an artist first. Also, the opportunities that have come to me, I took advantage of them just because they were there for me. And because of those opportunities, I am getting recognized as an artist first and then an educator second. 

So is the art something that you will be willing to dive into full-time and see how far it goes?

I mean, who doesn't want to be a full-time artist? You literally make art for a living. But I don't think people understand when you're a full-time artist, there's also a business side to it. So, at first, you are your manager; you're the one who's looking for the shows or talking to people who want to buy your artwork, so there are always pros and cons to it. But of course, I would love to get up in the morning, make a painting, and sell it for a million dollars. But realistically, as of right now, education is safe for me; I know it's going to be there. I know I'll have insurance at the end of the day. But if my art starts to take off, and there are more opportunities for me that don't fit in with my schedule as an educator, then I probably will be that full-time artist. 

So talk a little bit about having to expand your skill set, starting with drawing and painting, now moving into three-dimensional pieces.

It's just funny because a lot of the things that I've learned, I've learned on accident. So, for my degree originally,  I had to have a concentration. I wanted just to do painting and drawing, but due to my schedule, my concentration shifted to 3D design. I took more 3D classes like fibers, ceramics, and glassblowing because they fit my schedule. I never saw myself as this 3D artist. I was just like, "Oh, I know how to paint, I'm a painter," and that's it, and I just put myself in that box. But due to the circumstances, I had to take myself out of that box. So, I took a fibers class and learned this technique called felting, which is how I made my flower bouquet and chandelier. For some who may not know, felting is the process of using felting needles and a pillow-like tool, and you can use this roving material, but I use braiding hair. So what you do is sculpt it any way you want to, and then you use the needle and put the material on the pillow, and you're kind of just stabbing it constantly until it sticks together and forms into whatever sculpture you're trying to create. I fell in love with that practice, and that's kind of how I suddenly became a 3D artist. It's so cool because a lot of my messages can be conveyed better in 3D art than in 2D art.

Speaking of messages, you mentioned using braiding hair in your felting technique, and there is a lot of hair-related imagery in your work. What exactly is the message you’re trying to convey and why?

So again, I never saw myself as this artist, right? But I would always see other artists and say, "Wow, this artist has a distinct style”. I want a distinct style for people to look at and say, "Wow, that's a Bria Tyler." A lot of art is created based on personal experiences. So, I was trying to think about what I had going on in my life, and a lot of it had to do with confidence issues as in, always being in my head about, oh, are you a good artist, are you a good person at the end of the day? A lot of self-reflection. And as a black woman, a lot of your confidence comes from your hair –whether it's done or not. With having a busy schedule, thinking about everything that's going on in my life, and then also being in these classes where the majority of the people I'm around are white, sometimes they have this perspective that all black people are struggling. I have been blessed enough not to be in that situation, so I have a different perspective on certain things. I truly don't want that message that all black people are struggling to be the end-all-be-all. I believe I'm in a position where I'm an example to show that, no, we're not all struggling, and there are other things to being black than just our struggles. So, looking into that and also going through a transitional period when it came to my hair inspires a lot of my artwork. There was a period in my life when I was wearing braids constantly. Whenever you saw me, I was in some braids. It got to a point where I started disliking my natural hair, and as a black woman, society already tries to teach us not to like our hair. So I'm trying to reshape that image and put it into a space where our hair is accepted, our hair is loved. I should love my hair; I shouldn't use it as a handicap or just for convenience. Also, the act of braiding is its own art form, and paying to get your hair done is its own luxury experience due to its expense, so trying to intertwine all of that into my art has been my inspiration.

By Bria Tyler

In another interview, you made a comment about how you have to trust yourself to get your art to look okay, and if you don't like it, you have to trust yourself that you can fix what you don't like. So talk about developing that trust, how do you become confident in your ability?

I would definitely say doing art more has helped. However, I'm still in the process of learning to trust myself. Art has taught me a lot about not just art itself but my life. Life lessons and art lessons go hand in hand. When making art, I have to trust that I can do this for one, as in the idea can be transformed into actual art. In life, in general, I have to trust that I will make the right decision, and even if I don't make the right decision, it's not the end of the world, and it's the same thing with art, too. There have been times when my art hasn't come out how I wanted it to, and I say to myself, "All right, Bria, what are you going to do now?" Art and life are a lot of problem-solving. I'm still on that journey of trusting myself, but it has gotten a lot better just because I'm constantly reminding myself that at the end of the day, it will be okay. I mean, it sounds cliche, but I can do whatever I put my mind to, and it shows just because of the small success that I have had recently.