Press Releases

Catalogs, Newpapers & Online Articles

The Morning Sun - Serving Central Michigan
Art Reach

By NEDRA FISHER
The Morning SunSunday, February 27, 2011

Tonya Henderson Rollyson is the featured artist in the Art Reach on Broadway Gallery from March 1-31. The exhibition is a marvelous delight of color and motion as seen in a dream world you might wish to explore. 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 works are a record of her examination of the mind and the exploration into originating thought, or the thought behind the thought, that triggers emotion. Please join us at a reception for this fine artist on Thursday, March 3 at the gallery from 5 to 7 p.m.
WOW Mt. Pleasant: Callendar Of Events
March 2011
Gallery Exhibit Reception
Gallery exhibit reception of Tonya Henderson-Rollyson will take place at the Art Reach Center in Downtown Mount Pleasant. The exhibit will be on display March 1-31, 2011.
Swartz Creek VIEW: Community Connection
Shiawassee Arts Center offers classes for adults
OWOSSO —
February 27th, 2011

The Shiawassee Arts Center (SAC), 206 Curwood Castle Dr., is offering several new classes for adults...
Acrylic painter Tonya Henderson Rollyson will teach Acrylic Techniques 6-8:30 p.m. March 2-23. The class is student level: adultyoung adult, and for those new to painting, new to acrylics, or just wanting some guidance on paintings. Students need to supply their own materials (supply list is included). Cost is $110 for members, $130 for nonmembers...
For all classes, advance registration and payment is required.
For more information on the classes, call the SAC at 989-723-8354 or email lindar@shiawasseearts.org. — Natalie Blythe

Acrylic Techniques with Tonya Henderson Rollyson
February 2010

...New to painting, new to acrylics, or just wanting some guidance on your paintings, this class is for you. Acrylic painter Tonya Henderson Rollyson will be here to guide you through the process of using acrylics to create your works of art. Learn how to use this mediums various techniques and create a painting uniquely your own.
Winsor & Newton Atrists Acrylic: Website
October - December 2010

Thank you to everyone who participated in our October - December 2010 competition. We are pleased to announce that the overall winner was Sandra Silevica who will receive £250 worth of Winsor & Newton art materials. The runners up were Lesya Kara-Kotsya, Tonya Henderson Rollyson and Mykhailo Deyak

The Founders Society Presents: The Art Sales & Rental Gallery's Photos -
by The Founders Society Presents
September 19th, 2010
Tonya Henderson Rollyson Exhibit - Tonya's central theme is the expression of reality and duality through the use of conceptual realism as well as abstract concepts. The exhibit is a demonstration of Tonya's exploration of color, understanding of geometric complexities, and the nostalgic appeal of domestic landscape's.

The Flint Journal - Flint MI
Arts education is essential for creative, innovative work force
By Flint Journal staff
April 01, 2010,
Voice: Tonya Henderson Rollyson, Gaines As a working artist and art instructor in the state of Michigan, I have seen first-hand the importance of art in education. Art, music, dance, theater and literature play a major role in our everyday lives. Therefore, these subjects should be considered mandatory in a well-rounded education.
The arts are proven to help close the achievement gap. The collection of research described in “Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development” finds that learning in the arts may be uniquely able to boost learning and achievement for young children, students from economically disadvantaged circumstances and students needing remedial instruction.
The No Child Left Behind Act recognizes the arts as a core academic subject, making them eligible for inclusion in broad categories such as teacher training, school reform and technology. However, recent studies have shown that some schools are neglecting arts education in favor of other core subjects such as math and science.
President Obama’s arts platform statement included support for arts education, stating that, “In addition to giving our children the science and math skills they need to compete in the new global context, we should also encourage the ability to think creatively that comes from a meaningful arts education.”
Arts education helps prepare a creative workforce. According to a 2007 Conference Board report, “Ready to Innovate,” there is overwhelming support from school superintendents (98 percent) and corporate leaders (96 percent) that creativity is of increasing importance to the U.S. work force.
A 2006 report from the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce said in its executive summary, “The best employers the world over will be looking for the most competent, most creative and most innovative people on the face of the Earth and will be willing to pay them top dollar for their services.” The report includes the arts as an essential skill for the future workforce.

Source Newspapers - Sterling Hieghts Michigan

Artist’s abstracts reflect mood, personality

Sunday April 19, 2009--Sterling Heights

By DEBRA KASZUBSKI

Contributing Writer

Source photo by Debra Kaszubski

Although abstract, it’s easy to find mood in Tonya Henderson Rollyson’s acrylic paintings, 10 of which are on display at Sterling Heights City Hall through out April.

“Spiraling Down,” in which a dark looping spiral whirls into a black abyss, represents what Rollyson called “a bad day.” “Fading Funk” is also black with spots of bright yellow, symbolizing the start of something good. Another painting in the same series, Rollyson said, “feels like a headache. It’s as if your head is going to explode looking at it.”

The emotional paintings are part of a series of 20 which, when lined up, tell a story.

“It was like reading a book,” Rollyson said. The series was also among the first abstracts painted by Rollyson two years ago.

Rollyson, who lives in Gaines, is the Sterling Heights Artist of the Month of April. Her displayed paintings are on sale for $500 each by calling 989-271-9576.

While paintings such a “Leo,” a textured medium abstract which clearly features the face of the lion, may not reflect changing moods, most of Rollyson’s art and the art displayed in Sterling Heights features Rollyson’s signature shape - a circle.

Rollyson admits she’s intrigued by the shape and uses it in many different ways through her art. Her favorite displayed painting in Sterling Heights is called “Becoming the Circle,” in which it appears as if circles are taking root in soil. An early abstract features layered circles shaped into a tunnel.

“I realized that circles were my signature,” she said. “It’s amazing how many ways you can paint a circle, to look like bubbles, discs in flying through space, spheres, spirals ...”

Rollyson has not always painted circular objects and abstract art. Rollyson, who says she believes a person does not become an artist but is rather born one, received an associate’s degree of occupational studies in visual communications from the Colorado Institute of Art in Denver. She worked as a freelance graphic designer for ad and marketing agencies, and full-time at WJRT-TV 12 in Flint where she designed on-air graphics, commercials and other artwork.

Rollyson decided to focus on fine art and work from her home to avoid putting her children - Zach, 18, and Katie, 16 - in daycare. She also began painting almost exclusively with acrylics. She started teaching art classes, and continued to paint and show her contemporary works. Rollyson also paints murals, floor cloths and glassware in addition to canvas.

Her switch to abstract a couple of years ago gave her more creative freedom, she said. Many times, she will start an abstract painting without having an idea of what to paint. She’ll layer modeling paste with acrylics and metallics on canvas, bringing the painting to life. An image appears and Rollyson further develops.

Her work has been showcased throughout Michigan and the United States. Rollyson said she is proud to have had five pieces shown at the Agora Gallery in New York City. Besides Sterling Heights, her work is also currently displayed in Flint, Owosso and Austin, Texas.

Although her children are now teens, Rollyson continues to work from her home studio, located in her dining room. She hopes to one day turn her pole barn into a large studio.

Rollyson’s work is on display in the lower level of Sterling Heights City Hall, 40555 Utica Road, at Dodge Park Road. For more information, call 446-2489.

Advisor & Source Newspapers

Fri Apr 17, 2009

Artist's abstracts reflect mood, personality

Although abstract, it's easy to find mood in Tonya Henderson Rollyson's acrylic paintings, 10 of which are on display at Sterling Heights City Hall through out April.

GeneseeFun.com - Michigan Online

Tonya Henderson Rollyson

Poet - Visual Artist

About the artist:

Impressionism, Symbolism and Art Nouveau have heavily influenced my work. I admire the work of artists such as Monet, Manet, Klimt, Renoir, Degas and Chagall. I tend to paint a lot of circles. The circle is representative of life itself. Life is God, a perfect circle with no beginning, no ending. I have begun to include my thoughts in written form, into my paintings. I feel as though this allows me to connect more immediately and intimately to the viewer. I was born in Flint, Michigan and currently reside in Gaines. I attended the Colorado Institute of Art's Visual Communications Program and graduated with an associate's degree of occupational studies in 1987. I have designed for television, worked as a graphic artist for advertising agencies, marketing firms & graphic design studios and have marketed original designs. Currently I teach and hold painting workshops in my studio as well as throughout the country. I have exhibited in shows from Pittsburgh to Orlando, Denver to New York City and extensively throughout the State of Michigan. Agora Gallery in NYC is currently representing my work.

Interpretative Realms- New York, New York
Reception: Thursday, February 05, 2009 6-8 PM
Exhibition Dates: 1/30/2009 - 2/19/2009

	Press Release
			Tonya Henderson Rollyson's paintings show a predilection for swirling circular forms in deep, saturated tones. It's as though she's rendered some celestial stream's roaring currents in splashing reds and deep blues, flowing through her abstract compositions. Raised in a family of artists in Michigan, her pointillist forms echo her mothers family's long sewing and textile tradition, while many structural elements in her compositions echo her father's painting and woodworking. This multiplicity of skills is reflected in Tonya's own oeuvre, which appears all over the United States in innumerable forms: television graphics, greeting cards, commercials and murals, to name just a few. Her paintings, however, dramatize a vital energy that appears constantly trying to escape the boundaries of the medium. Tonya moves seamlessly between surrealism and abstract expressionism, creating dynamic juxtapositions of colors, planes and shapes that alternately leap off the canvas or roll unstoppably out of the frame. From these grand movements to the details of their component parts, Tonya visualizes the grand minutiae of bounding energy.

ArtMine.com- New York, New York

February 2009

Interpretative Realms

Alternate realities and pseudo-universes are in store for the visitors of Interpretive Realms. Wild and energetic, this is an impressive grouping, where one may discover traces of the Fauves, Surrealists, and other purveyors of the avant-garde. These creative minds convey the excitement and ingenuity of early modern art in our contemporary age. They have each developed highly personal and inventive artistic language that will enrich the imagination of audiences.

Tonya Henderson Rollyson

Artist Page

Tonya Henderson Rollyson's paintings show a predilection for swirling circular forms in deep, saturated tones. It's as though she's rendered some celestial stream's roaring currents in splashing reds and deep blues, flowing through her abstract compositions. Raised in a family of artists in Michigan, her pointillist forms echo her mothers family's long sewing and textile tradition, while many structural elements in her compositions echo her father's painting and woodworking. This multiplicity of skills is reflected in Tonya's own oeuvre, which appears all over the United States in innumerable forms: television graphics, greeting cards, commercials and murals, to name just a few.

Her paintings, however, dramatize a vital energy that appears constantly trying to escape the boundaries of the medium. Tonya moves seamlessly between surrealism and abstract expressionism, creating dynamic juxtapositions of colors, planes and shapes that alternately leap off the canvas or roll unstoppably out of the frame. From these grand movements to the details of their component parts, Tonya visualizes the grand minutiae of bounding energy.

click to enlarge

"Under Pressure"

"Kaleidoscope"

Back to the Future - Owosso Michigan

SAC's First Exhibit of 2008 held at Curwood Castle

Due to the planned expansion of the Shiawassee Arts Center, the first SAC exhibit of 2008 is being held at Curwood Castle, which

was the first home of the Arts Council from 1972 to 1989. The three exhibiting artists are Marti Liddle-Lameti (fiber) of Owosso, Tonya Henderson Rollyson (acrylic) of Gaines and Gretel Geist Rutledge (prints) of East Lansing. The show continues through March 9. The Castle is open to the public free of charge during this exhibit, Tuesday-Sunday, 1-5pm, located at 224 Curwood Castle Drive in Owosso. The exhibit is sponsored by Cadwallader-Lord-Hahn Insurance and Getzen & Connell, CPAs.....

Henderson Rollyson began her freelance career as a graphic designer and is now a freelance artist and art instructor. Many of her images were inspired from life experiences - a trip to the beach, a walk in the woods or an after schools activity with her children provided inspir-ation. Her most recent work of acrylic paintings which will be on exhibit in this show, consist of images from within - a diary of her thoughts, feelings, internal struggles and conflicts of her mind. As a body of work they could be viewed as a self-portrait. She explains,"While I catalogue my mind on canvas, my desire is to reject the ordinary, reveal the extraordinary and become whole. I hope that by viewing my work your spirt is renewed, your soul uplifted and you find the courage within yourself to do the same."