Tiffany Jones
July 2020's Alumni of the Month Spotlight
What have you been up to since leaving CCBC? Jobs, accomplishments you'd like to share, moving, etc.
Since I graduated from CCBC in 2009, I have been involved in the non-profit community arts sector of Baltimore City. Instead of deciding to attend graduate school after I received my BFA from MICA I worked a full-time office job as I created artwork out of my home. In 2014, I transitioned to a studio and became a resident artist at the School 33 Art Center for the next 5 years after where I was able to expand my practice. I have a passion for witnessing how the arts can affect change, inspire others, and initiate dialogue that will allow people to see many perspectives of others and themselves. Working on projects like the New Day Campaign and being selected as a commissioned artist in MICA's Curatorial Practice allowed me to do just that, which eventually led me to becoming the Director of Programs & Equity Initiatives for the local arts organization, Access Art, Inc.
What art projects are you currently working on and how does it compare to your work at CCBC?
After having been involved in a number of community art projects for the last few years, my newer works are circling back around to the work I created during my time at CCBC. It is more personal, it is an examination of what it is to be a woman, black, and creative during this time at this point in my life.
When I graduated from CCBC the piece I exhibited in our Student Transfer Show was "Growth." As I reflect on my current work, I see the aesthetic similarities between the two works, but also the "growth" I have made as a person and as well as an artist.
What’s your current art process like? How does it compare to when you were at CCBC?
My art process is pretty much the same. I let the project or idea decide the medium I choose to use. All work begins with photography and/or writing and remains as photography or evolves into a mixed media piece, sometimes even an installation. For me it's about what does the artwork make you feel? What does it make you think or remember? How does it resonate with you? What stories does it tell of the artist, community and where do you fit within that story?
How do you see your work growing in the future?
Interestingly I am at that moment. I am at a space where I am not able to create work as I would have in the past, it is a slower process nowadays, a lot more thinking about the intentionality behind, but how I see my art growing in the future is through various intersections across mediums or collaborations. What kind of space or experience do I create? Who am I interacting with or engaging? My art has expanded and interwoven itself into my every day.
If you had to give advice to your younger self, what would it be?
Advice to my younger self....Life is life and it happens for a reason. Trust in yourself, you got this. What you think will happen never will, and what you least expect is what will take you there. Pace yourself, no one is running your race but you. Get out your own way and stop procrastinating.
