About | Tyra J Studio

What I'd love for you know about me:

I create sculpture and installation that asks to be felt as much as seen. Sometimes that looks like tactility. Sometimes it’s interaction. Sometimes it’s simply presence — a shift in how a space holds you.

My work confronts identity, landscape, and the quiet patterns that shape how we move through the world. I’m interested in what happens when material becomes a mirror, or when form slows you down just enough to notice yourself inside it.

I spent nine years in a corporate project management career while building my art and design practice. I was told more than once to “pick a lane.” First between art and business. Then between disciplines inside the creative industry itself. Sculpture or installation. Conceptual or functional. Fine art or commercial.

I never understood why those things had to be separate.

That tension became fuel. It pushed me toward a practice that refuses clean categorization. I move between sculpture, installation, placemaking, and material experimentation because that’s how I experience the world. Layered. Interconnected. In conversation.

Growing up in a military family, I lived among people of different cultures, beliefs, and geographies. I learned early that when we focus on our shared humanity, difference becomes something expansive rather than divisive. That perspective continues to shape my work.

If you’re here, I may not know how you found me. But I’m glad you did.

Love,
Tyra J

On Material & Process

My research into organic architecture and earthen building traditions reshaped how I think about sculpture. I became interested in how cob and adobe hold structure, breathability, and history all at once. That curiosity led me to develop a cellulose fiber composite made of fiber, sand, and plaster, mixed in ratios informed by earthen construction.

The formula shifts depending on the need. Structural forms require different ratios than surface refinement or pigment integration. When working outdoors or in conditions that demand greater durability, I substitute mortar or Portland cement in place of plaster.

The armature work is just as important as the surface. Metal framing techniques influenced by ferrocement inform how I build from the inside out. At larger scales, or when engineering or alternative materials are required, I collaborate with fabricators and technical partners. Scale does not intimidate me, but I respect what it requires.

I’m interested in material that responds to environment rather than dominating it. Work that can live in dialogue with landscape, architecture, and time.