Today we’d like to introduce you to Toni Brou.
Hi Toni, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Growing up on a little farm in Dodge City, KS, I could most often be found drawing at the dining room table. One of my earliest memories was watching my dad at his workbench. He was a handy guy and made what he called junk art from found objects. After high school, I moved to Lawrence to study graphic design and illustration at KU. Later, in 1999, both my husband and my father were very ill. By then, I had two very little boys and was expecting my third. During this time, I started sculpting small smiling suns, telling myself the sun always rises and I’d somehow get through it. Squishing clay is pretty good therapy.
My dad died, and his funeral was on my due date. I couldn’t make the 5-1/2 hour drive to Dodge City for the service. In honor of my dad’s favorite pastime, I spent the day making stuff. That day, my suns became larger, and I started incorporating found objects as a nod to him. One year later, my husband died. My sons were 1, 2 and 5. In between chasing them around, I kept making art.
In 2011, I sent a bunch of images of my sun artwork to CBS Sunday Morning. They responded right away. (The show broadcasts sun art created by viewers as their segments fade to commercial). Over the years, they have used about three dozen different suns I have created on their program. While I create art with other positive imagery and themes, people know me best for my smiling suns.
Many years after our family’s losses, I was thinking back about when my husband was in hospice in Topeka. There was an aviary in the living room at the hospice house, and it was a welcome distraction for our young sons at the time. When we’d arrive, my middle son, who was almost 3, would hurry to the aviary. He’d rest his forehead on the glass till he spotted “his” bird–the one yellow bird there amongst the brown ones. That was the inspiration for my fanciful bird paintings–trying to capture that sense of joy and whimsy of when my sons were young. Even though that time was so difficult, as I was processing it all later, something struck me. Long before our family even knew what hospice was, someone thought of having that aviary there. Someone we never saw kept it clean. And even though I often felt alone during that time, we were never alone. I share that story not as a woe-is-me thing, but in hopes it will encourage someone else in their hard time.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No one who knows me would say that any part of it has been a smooth road. They would tell you I have persisted, though.
I learned to apply my art to a wide variety of items at a vast array of price points. Sometimes people can’t afford a $400 original, but they will buy cards or magnets to gift a friend who needs encouragement.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
In 2011, the city of Lawrence presented me with a Phoenix Award (honoring and celebrating outstanding artistic achievement in the Lawrence community) in visual arts. In 2023, I was the artist chosen to design the Phoenix Awards.
This summer, I was chosen to participate in OpenStudios Lawrence. They pair creatives with spaces downtown that do not have a permanent tenant. The artists can have a storefront/studio for 2-3 months. I have a studio/storefront with another artist, Brandt Minden, through the end of August. We create there and have retail hours Fridays through Sundays. Additionally, for the month of August, I have a show of my work at the Lawrence Public Library. In September, I will be at Art in the Park in Lawrence.
More than anything though, it makes me happiest and most proud when people “get” my art and it brings them some comfort or cheers them up. People often purchase my work for a loved one going through a hard time. That is the biggest compliment of all.
Pricing:
- $12-550
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tonibrou.com
- Instagram: @tonibrou
