Tamara Rodgers is an award-winning photographer based in Cheyenne, WY where she recently expanded into underwater photography. She enjoys discovering the possibilities of merging her other passion – ceramics - with photography. She graduated from the BFA program at the University of Wyoming summa cum laude in the spring of 2020. Currently, Rodgers is in the process of forming a clay center and supply with her husband in Cheyenne named Silver Sage Ceramics. It is expected to open in June of 2020.

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Artist's Statement

My most recent body of work focuses on women in rodeo, specifically Saddle Bronc Riding, where the competitors ride a bucking horse and are scored by form and duration.

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Between 1929 and 2018, women were banned from this sport. The images featured in this work are made with a silkscreen process based on photographs I captured of the first female Bronco Riders at Cheyenne Frontier Days since 1928.

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I choose to use clay because it is one of the oldest art media used worldwide. Blue and white surface treatments have a long-standing convention in historical ceramics. The textures are a reference to the traditional leather tooling that has long been celebrated in western rodeo gear such as saddles, chaps and belts.

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I am depicting our contemporary women riders through a traditional craft/art form. This highlights a common misunderstanding of gender roles and abilities within a once male dominated extreme sport.