Janet Tyson is an artist who works almost exclusively with found objects, which may be from nature, salvaged from the trash or brand new and store-bought. Occasionally, she draws or paints. But more often she prefers to construct images and objects from such diverse materials as wood, glass, paper, tape, metal and plastic.

The two areas of artistic practice that most strongly influence her are architecture and literature. In both cases, Tyson perceives completed, whole works that are the product of many small units, patiently assembled.

Tyson started working with Lego plastic bricks when her two small children became interested in playing with them. Tyson, herself, never had played with Legos and was fascinated with their intense colors and the precise way in which they joined together.

She has made constructions from Legos since early 1997. In addition to architecture and literature, she sometimes takes inspiration from her children's inventions, and other times looks to art history and contemporary culture for ideas.

JANET STILES TYSON / PRECIS

P. O. Box 100446
Fort Worth, TX 76185
jtyson@ralphart.net
voice 817.991.3037
fax 817.926.7337

EDUCATION
1994 Texas Christian University, Fort Worth: MFA in printmaking
1978 Grand Valley State Colleges, Allendale, Mich.: BS in mass media

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2000 solid color/pure plasticity, Conduit Gallery Project Room, Dallas
1996 tower/text, Rachel Harris Gallery, Fort Worth
1995 Romanticism Re-examined, Texas Wesleyan University West Library, Fort Worth
Word Ward for Jack Fulton, Conduit Gallery, Dallas
1994 (re)search (re)joyce, TCU Moudy Gallery
1981 Fish Bowls, San Jose State University Union Gallery

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2000 substance abuse, University of Texas at Dallas
1999 artist/writer, Richland College, Dallas (brochure) Artist Statement, Untitled Space, New Haven
1996-97 Fort Worth Hot Shots, University of North Texas Art Gallery, Denton; ArtPace, San Antonio
1996 Sarah Hutt and Janet Tyson, West End Gallery, Houston
1995-96 The Book Re-configured, Women & Their Work, Austin; Texas A&M College Station; Texas A&M Corpus Christi; Texas Woman's University, Denton
Ten Texas Printmakers, University of Maryland Eastern Shore; Rancho Val Mora, NM; Gallery 414, Fort Worth
Harrington Thornton Tyson, Old Jail Art Center, Albany, Texas; Women & Their Work, Austin; McNeese State University Abercrombie Gallery, Lake Charles
1995 Small Worlds, Galveston Art Center
History and Memory: Frank Brown, Paul Ramirez-Jonas, Janet Tyson, Haggar Gallery, University of Dallas (catalog)
1994 Contemporary American Artists, Pesterzsebet Museum and Young Artist's Club in Budapest, and Pelikan Gallery in Szekesfehevar (catalog)
1982-83 Three installations, with Nancy Newman, for SJICA Windoworks, San Jose; First Street Sculpture, First Street Fern Bar and Universal Temple of Artistic Enlightenment
1982 Apologia: Critics as Artists, with Robert Atkins, Glen Moriwaki and Mark van Proyan, San Jose State University Union Gallery
1981 Patterns, with Daria Dorosh, Steve Pon and Ladd Terry, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art
1979 Bubbles, with Jessica Jacobs and Gregory Miller; Wordworks, San Jose

BIBLIOGRAPHY
2000 McCabe, Bret. Wry's the Limit … . Dallas Morning News Weinstein, Joel. Janet Tyson. Sculpture magazine
1997 Goddard, Dan. Fort Worth Hot Shots' show ... . San Antonio Express News
1996 Kutner, Janet. Nine artists and several surprises. Dallas Morning News Guide Brown, Glen R. ... Harrington, ... Thornton, ... Tyson. New Art Examiner Irvine, Madeleine. 3 artists' drawings ... . Austin American-Statesman
1995 Irvine, Madeleine. Reading into art. Austin American-Statesman
Levy, Rebecca. artview. Austin Chronicle Wilson, Wade. Terri Thornton and Janet Tyson.CRCA journal
1994 Ferch, Magda. Contemporary American Artists ... . Magyar Nemzet
1981 Burkhardt, Dorothy. Patterns. San Jose Mercury-News

OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Art writing:
2001 catalog essay, Frank Tolbert, Pillsbury & Peters Fine Art, Dallas catalog essay, Ellen Frances Tuchman, Irving Arts Center current Texas correspondant for The Art Newspaper since 1998 (monthly, London) contributor to Art on Paper since 1997 (bi-monthly, New York) critic and contributing editor for ArtLies since 1998 (quarterly, Houston) writer and critic for Art Papers (bi-monthly, Atlanta)
1986-99 staff art critic, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
1983-86 art critic, Peninsula Times Tribune, Palo Alto
1980-82 critic, Artweek, Oakland exhibition curating:
2001 four artists, four paintings, four walls: Grant Couch, Vincent Falsetta, Cynthia Lin, Lorraine Tady, Four Walls, Fort Worth Western Civilization, Fort Worth Central Library Jesse Meraz: Reinventing Sculpture, Four Walls; Fort Worth (catalog essay) Action Heroes: Paintings by Drew Daleo, John Hartley and John Holt Smith, The Art Center, Waco (catalog essay) Bill Haveron: A Drawings Retrospective, Artspace 111; Fort Worth (catalog essay) Vault Sequence: Video Projections by Brian Fridge; Four Walls, Fort Worth (catalog essay)
1997 Contained: Sculpture by Frances Bagley and Cameron Schoepp, Contemporary Art Center of Fort Worth
1995 Ars Botanica, Green Gallery, Austin College; Sherman (catalog essay)
1994 ha he hi ho hu, NRH Gallery, North Richland Hills (essay)
1983 Jedd Garet, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art
1982 Works Exchange, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art; Race Street Gallery, Grand Rapids, Mich. (catalog essay) Educational Programming:
2000-present production of one-person exhibitions of regional contemporary art in Fort Worth public schools (including printed matter)
2001-02 consultant and moderator for Kimbell Art Museum program, The Artist's Eye
1994 coordinator and presenter for Texas Christian University staging of national printmaking conference