Local artist Tanya Evans-Johnson is back with a new exhibit at the Ossining Public Library, after a successful debut display at the Greenburgh Town Hall. Unlike traditional sculptures and paintings, Johnson’s art comes from cardboard and other discarded items which she transforms into three-dimensional collages. The exhibit, called Cardboard Comes to Life, includes not only stunning works from her previous exhibitions, but twenty brand new pieces, exploring new themes and styles. Take, for example, a new technique Evans-Johnson is experimenting with: mosaics. Without abandoning her medium of choice, she cut up her recycled cardboard into small pieces and placed them delicately together to create a realistic cardboard mosaic zebra. While Evans-Johnson is not new to creating animals (in fact, she had a collage of a zebra in her Greenburgh exhibition), the changes in her stylistic choices keep her new works fresh and engaging.
After working as an art teacher for many years, Evans-Johnson fell back in love with creating her own art during the pandemic, and founded her studio DRIFT (Designing Reclaimed Items from Trash) shortly after. It did not take long for her art to grow and expand, and only five years later, she has multiple exhibitions under her belt.
As the exhibit was created for Black History Month, much of the work also revolves around African-American achievements and culture. Examples include Sit Still: When Braids where Plaits, a collage about taking care of African-American hair and its history, and another of singer-songwriter Prince. The musician’s hands emerge majestically from the cardboard base, making it hard to believe it is built from the same material as simple shipping boxes. The work sits by other music themed collages, such as a portrait of the famous Stevie Wonder.
Cardboard is not the only disposable item you will find in Evans-Johnson’s collages. She can find a new life in anything from packaging foil to a broken pair of sunglasses to paint chips, saving them from a disposal process that severely damages our planet. After all, according to Evans-Johnson, “your trash is my treasure.” Environmentalism is deeply rooted in the former art teacher’s creations. She has previously held a workshop at the Greenburgh Public Library teaching sustainable art to seniors, and will be hosting another along with her current exhibition at the Ossining Library, open to all ages. If you are unable to make it, you can still have a lot to learn about sustainability through Evans-Johnson’s art, with informational pamphlets hanging on the walls explaining how to sort recycling in Westchester, as rules about what can be recycled are not consistent from place to place. Her art is a perfect example of reusing disposable materials to create something better for both our local culture, and the environment as a whole.
Aside from her collages, Evans-Johnson also has a series of spinners and hanging sculptures created from driftwood found at the Peekskill Waterfront and small items collected from thrift stores. This mixing of made-made objects with nature speaks to the core of her work. The overlap between our creations and the natural world we live in cannot be ignored. It affects us, we affect it, and that effect doesn’t need to be negative.
Like all artists, Evans-Johnson is not done growing. She will continue to refine and improve her art for many exhibits to come, just as she has done with this news display. In doing so, she will conunite to pave a path toward a clean future. Now is a vital time for art like Evans-Johnson’s. In a world rife with environmental damage and tension, it has the power to bring our communities together, heighten appreciation for art, and fight for a greener tomorrow.
The exhibit will be open until February 28th, with the workshop on the 26th.
