“… come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.”
‑Lucille Clifton

on the bridge between is a collection of mixed media collage works born from a year of exploring notions of resilience and the myriad ways humans choose to lean into life while on the bridge between those everyday realities that have the power to destroy us and the somethings beckoning us to keep going in spite of it all.

Here is a collage of language from my studio notes during the creation process of this body of work. Let them serve as my artist statement:

My days consist of a steady intake of news, ideas and poetry that speak to what it means to be human in the world. In this studio I take what I digest, literally deconstruct it and reconstruct it into something new that stirs or opens up the imagination to new possibilities. Something enticing, aesthetically pleasing. This daily act of re-imagining invigorates, heals and keeps me keeping on.

This work so far allows me to engage the everyday realities and traumas of life without drowning in despair, grief and anxiety. It’s like I’m simultaneously dreaming and praying with my hands on each piece— pushing back against those aspects of life that push hard against me… against us.

Each piece is full of half-hidden truths abstracted from each layer that you have to lean in close to see; and even then it requires further thought and investigation.

My love affair with color, texture, symbols and metaphor continues.
Blue… it is the color I often see when I take that journey inward to illuminate that dark wilderness Baldwin talks about. It is the color I feel and perceive when I engage the world in which we inhabit and create. It is the color of the things that move me to stillness and compel me to exhale deeply. It is the color of breath. It is a color that feels like home; while also, at times, feels so very far away.

Green is life.

Lucille Clifton’s poetry has been a gracious and generous companion.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Lanecia Rouse Tinsley is a multidisciplinary artist based in Houston, TX. Her portfolio includes a range of abstract painting, photography, teaching, writing, speaking, and curatorial projects for local non-profit organizations. Lanecia creates work that focuses on liminal space, on the not-yet-formed possibilities and depictions present in materials and their presentation that point towards “otherwise” possibilities and the everyday quests humans undergo to construct meaningful and content lives. Her work is the product of contemplative and intuitive abstract mixed-media practices and is informed by sociology, theology, culture, poetry, and history.

Lanecia is the 2020 – 2021 Artist-in-Residence for the Center for Engaged Research and Collaborative Learning (CERCL) at Rice University and is also the Artist-in-Residence at Holy Family HTX (2017-Present). She is a Co-founding Creative Director for the ImagiNoir Equity Group, an international alliance and community development and equity group of black activists, artists, writers, scholars, philanthropists, and educators. In addition, she is the Director of Justice and the Arts with projectCURATE.

Lanecia has exhibited at Urban Zin Gallery, New York City, NY; Collect it for the Culture, Houston, TX; Houston First Corporation, Houston, TX (2021); Inman Gallery, Houston, TX; Project Row Houses, Houston, TX (2020); Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids, MI; Forth and Nomad Gallery, Houston, TX (2019); American Church in Paris, Paris, France where she did a 1‑month residency (2018); and Fourth Chapter Gallery, Kansas City, MO.

Lanecia is a graduate of Duke University Divinity School and Wofford College.