Bio: Rebekah Tolley is a printmaker and digital media artist. Her current work uses art activism and live-screenprinting to advocate and engage contemporary issues related to gender, motherhood and workplace inequality.

She is represented in collections such as the Hood Museum, Library and Archives Canada, The National Library of Quebec, The Boston Public Library, the Amity Art Foundation and the Kohler Library as well as numerous other public and private collections. Her work has been exhibited in galleries in Canada, France, China, Japan and across the United States.

She received her BFA from Concordia University in Montreal, and her MFA from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. She has taught at UNC-Chapel Hill, Colby-Sawyer College, Two Rivers Printmaking Studio in Vermont, The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Davidson College, Amherst College, SUNY Oneonta and currently teaches screenprinting at University at Albany- SUNY.

Artist Statement: I am a printmaker and digital media artist. My work uses art activism and live-screenprinting to advocate for and engage contemporary issues related to gender, motherhood and workplace inequality.

My recent work combines social science-informed data visualization with screen
printing. Inspired by the hand-drawn “data portraits” of 19th century sociologist W.E.B. and modernist, geometric art, this work aims for a simplicity of design to highlight the core issues and questions that can be lost in overly complex presentations of social issues.

“Home/Work” explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on parenting and gender inequality at home and in the workplace. The series of six images, screenprinted onto cotton tea towels arranged into a “quilt” draws on data highlighting women’s unemployment, lost access to childcare, eroding work-life balance, and the effects of the pandemic on women’s mental health. It was originally exhibited in “Vision of Care”, April-May, 2021 at the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum. It was also mentioned in an interview (9 minute mark) with the show’s organizer and lead critic, Robert Shane, on AHA!, WMHT arts show, July, 2021.

Website: www.rebekahtolley.com