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.
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.
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.
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.
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.