broussardtina

I was born and raised in California, enjoying the varied environments, moving from one Marine Corps base to another. I was (and am) a horse-crazy girl. Receiving Walter Farley’s “How To Draw Horses” kicked my artistic side into high gear. The public schools had wonderful art teachers who encouraged and sharpened my skills in drawing, painting and working with clay.

As an adult, working on the harness racing circuit, I continued drawing and creating small-scale sculpture. I married a horseshoer and we left the racetrack for his home state of Texas. We settled in Smithville, raising two boys and a variety of goats.

In 1982 I went to work at Deep In The Heart Art Foundry in Bastrop. Over 37 years I learned all the aspects of lost-wax casting. Exposure to many different artworks reawakened childhood fantasies of being an artist and I’ve indulged them ever since.

Sculpting in clay or wax, I cast decorative and functional art pieces in bronze, stainless steel, silver and gold. Some pieces are molded to allow for limited editions, some are direct cast one-of-a-kind. I use clay mined on our property for my ceramic art. I also am a photographer and create mixed media 2- and 3-D art. My style ranges from realistic to abstract, in my own creations or commissions.

Ceramics techniques were improved with classes at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina, the Juan Quezada family in Mata Ortiz, Mexico and local artist Jo Watts. Portraiture (full figure, bust and bias-relief) was studied with internationally renowned Willy Wang of Houston.

I’m an active member of TSOS, the Lost Pines Artisans Alliance of Smithville and the Willy Wang Workshop. I’ve shown in shows locally and in Austin, Round Rock, Georgetown, Fredericksburg, Houston and Clute, Texas.