Announcing the 2025 Tomayko Award Recipient: Brynda Glazier

Brynda J. Glazier is a multidisciplinary artist from Huntingdon, PA and Sheffield, England, whose work acts as an encoded journal of buried information, illumination through struggle, and the power of connection, conscious embodiment, and mutual vibration. Though rooted in ceramic sculpture and installation, her work ranges from painting to drawing, collage, photography, video, performance, light, and sound. 

Glazier says of her practice: “I am comfortable with any medium I encounter, but I always come back to clay, paint, and sound. I feel closest to myself when I am working in clay. As a toddler, I vividly recall swirling my fingers through the thick earth of a forest mud puddle. I felt profoundly connected to the material and remember thinking “this is who I am”. Figurative sculpture is my way of translating the complex sensations of the mind, body, and spirit, while activating its innate intelligence.”

Glazier earned her MFA from San Francisco Art Institute where she received the Dennis Patrick Gallagher Award for Excellence in Ceramic Sculpture. Her work was selected for Cream from the Top: The Best of the Bay Area’s Emerging Artists, and she was invited to present at SFMOMA’s Open Space Living Room Series. Glazier has exhibited and performed nationally and internationally at many spaces including: The Center of Contemporary Art in Seattle, WA; Tacoma Art Museum in WA; Stifle Fine Arts/Oglebay Institute, WV; the Material Art Fair in Mexico City, and in spaces throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including: 2nd Floor Projects, Center for New Music, Incline Gallery, the Performance Art Institute of San Francisco, SFMOMA, and the San Francisco Art Fair. Her work has been reviewed by The Examiner, San Francisco Art Beat, SF Gate, East Bay Express, KQED Arts, and The Stranger (Seattle).

Glazier will have a solo show at the Tomayko Foundation in December 2026. 

About the Tomayko Award:

The Tomayko Award is an annual award given to an artist based in the Pittsburgh region with the goal to support emerging artists. Recipients of the award receive $5,000 to help fund the development or production of further projects. The Foundation seeks to nurture creativity, encourage cultural dialogue, and enhance the region’s vibrant arts scene. The Tomayko Foundation held a nomination period in which cultural workers and artists could submit artists for consideration, a panel of experts made the final deliberation.