Evita Tezeno

Evita Tezeno (born May 9, 1960, in Port Arthur, Texas) is an American artist whose collage-based practice explores Black life, family, joy, memory, and everyday experience in the American South. Working across collage, painting, and mixed media, Tezeno examines intimacy, community, and cultural memory through hand-painted paper, found objects, vivid pattern, and scenes drawn from childhood, family life, and personal reflection.  Tezeno studied graphic design at Lamar University, earning a B.S. in 1984. Her work often engages family history, southern Black life, storytelling, and domestic memory, using layered collage, decorative surfaces, and rhythmic composition to consider beauty, resilience, and the emotional richness of ordinary life. Influenced by artists such as Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, and William H. Johnson, she creates images that counter reductive narratives by centering warmth, pleasure, and connection.  Her work has been exhibited at the Houston Museum of African American Culture, Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, the African American Museum in Dallas, and the Dishman Art Museum at Lamar University. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2023 and the Elizabeth Catlett Printmaking Award. Evita Tezeno lives and works in Dallas, Texas.