Tara Conley is a multidisciplinary artist based in Houston, Texas, known for her inventive use of materials such as fiber, steel, bronze, and fiberglass.

 

A graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology’s School for American Crafts in Metalsmithing and Jewelry, Conley transforms industrial media into organic, expressive forms, often incorporating humor and text into her work. Her sculptures range from intimate bronze phrases that play with light and shadow to large-scale public installations.

 

Notable projects include a major commission for Texas Tech University (2013) and a 2015 public art installation for the City of Houston’s Fondren Police Station. Her immersive installation My Life as a Doll was featured in her first museum exhibition at the Houston Museum of African American Culture. Conley’s work has been highlighted in publications such as Texas Artists Today and Touching Fiber Arts.

 

EDUCATION

1988 

BFA, Rochester Institute of Technology, School for American Crafts, Rochester, NY

 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2025

Forthcoming, The Nave Museum, Victoria TX

 

2024 

Lost and Found, ELLIO Fine Art, Houston, TX

Making Ends Meet, Rockport Center for the Arts, Rockport, TX

 

2022 

Moving Still, ELLIO Fine Art, Houston, TX

 

2021

 I Think I'm Here, PAC Gallery, Lee College, Baytown, TX

Breathe, Wellville Campus, Round Top, TX

 

2019 

Gymnopedie, Winston Contemporary Art, Houston, TX

 

2015 

My Life as a Doll & Telling the Truth in an Imaginary Place, Tara Conley & Tria Wood,

Houston Museum of African American Culture, Houston, TX

 

2012 

My Life as a Doll, Tara Conley & Tria Wood, Diverse Works, Houston, TX

 

2011 

Word for Word, Laura Rathe Fine Art, Houston, TX

 

2009 

Let Me See, Goldesberry Gallery, Houston, TX

 

2008 

I Hear You, New Gallery, Houston, TX

 

2006

 Uprights, New Gallery, Houston, TX

 

2004 

Tara Conley, Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, NY

 

2005

 Rebecca Flew, North Harris College, Houston, TX


SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2020-25

Persistence, Walter Anderson Museum of Art, Ocean Springs, MS

 

2020 

Richmond Avenue Public Art Project, Phase One, Houston, TX

 

2020 

Forging Strength: The Art of Labor, Hibernia Memorial Park Invitational, New Orleans, LA

 

2019 

Whistler Contemporary Art Group Exhibition, Whistler, British Columbia, Canada

 

2018 

Art Everywhere, SCOPE, Basil, Switzerland

Art in Nature Summer 2018, Splendora Gardens, Cleveland, TX

 

2015 

True South, Houston, TX

Tara Conley/Karen Hawkins: Suspended Fiction, Laura Rathe Fine Art, Dallas, TX

 

2014 

Kemp Center for the Arts Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Wichita Falls, TX

 

2011 

Crafting Live(s):10 Years of Artists-in-Residence, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, TX

 

2010 

Abilene Sculpture Exhibition: 30 Years Revisited, Center for Contemporary Arts, Abilene, TX

Louise Bourgeois Tribute Exhibition, Darke Gallery, Houston, TX

 

2009 

Hunting Art Prize Finalist, Houston, TX

Texas Twang, Shift Gallery, Seattle, WA

 

2007 

Maquette Exhibition, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, LA

Camp Marfa Invitational, Marfa, TX

 

2006 

Sculpture Vision, North Harris College, Houston, TX

 

2004 

Tango, Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, NY

 

2002 

Steel Grrrls, The Jonson Gallery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

 

PUBLIC ART COLLECTIONS & COMMISSIONS

2025 

MetroNational, 920 Memorial City Way, Houston, TX

 

2024 

SKANSKA,1550 On the Green, Houston, TX

 

2023 

MetroNational, 800 Gessner, Houston, TX

 

2019 

Triple-S Steel, Houston, TX

 

2019 

Houston Audubon Society, Houston, TX

 

2018 

Lake Park Pearland LTD., Pearland, TX

 

2017

 Helis Foundation, Poydras Corridor, New Orleans, LA

 Henry and Pat Shane Sculpture Park, Kenner, LA

 Lauricella Land Co., LLC, Elmwood Shopping Plaza, New Orleans

 

2015 

City of Houston, Houston Police Department Fondren Patrol Station, Houston, TX

 

2013 

Texas Tech University, Rawls College of Business, Lubbock, TX with Artist Joe Barrington

 

2008 

Sculpture for New Orleans, Lafayette Square, New Orleans, LA