Tina Williams Brewer
{{Short description|American artist}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Tina Williams Brewer
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| birth_place = Huntington, West Virginia
| nationality = American
| education = Columbus College of Art and Design
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| known_for = Quilts
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| website = {{URL|http://tinawilliamsbrewer.com/}}
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Tina Williams Brewer is an American quilting artist, recognized for story quilts about African American history.{{Cite news|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=2W62412144939&site=ehost-live|title=Artist Uses Quilts to Convey Stories and Build Cultural Connections|last=Shaw|first=Kurt|date=17 June 2009|work=Pittsburgh Tribune Review|access-date=30 March 2016|via=EBSCO}} Brewer was born in Huntington, West Virginia.{{Cite news|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=2W63917200462&site=ehost-live|title=Exhibit Tells Stories Through Quilts|date=11 September 2014|work=The Beaver County Times|access-date=30 March 2016|via=EBSCO}} She graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design. Brewer started in interior design and pottery, but began quilting in 1986, feeling it was more compatible with motherhood.{{Cite news|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=2W63794905247&site=ehost-live|title=Homewood Artist's 'Fragments' Looks at Cultures in Our World|last=Shaw|first=Kurt|date=7 September 2014|work=Pittsburgh Tribune Review|access-date=30 March 2016|via=EBSCO}} She is currently based in Pittsburgh, PA and has served on the boards of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.
Career
Brewers weaves symbolism into her works to tell stories focusing on issues of family, women, and children, the spirituality of the African American culture, and her personal experiences associated with them.{{Cite web|url=http://tinawilliamsbrewer.com/the-artist/|title=Tina Williams Brewer » The Artist|website=tinawilliamsbrewer.com|access-date=2017-12-05}} Much of her older works focused on the Middle Passage and her ancestors arriving to America on slave ships, but she also focuses on African American contributions to history and society, such as Jazz.
Brewer works in artistic community outreach, using her insight to encourage others in the creative and collaborative process. She mentors aspiring artists of all ages and has brought the quilting experience to hundreds of individuals in schools and residency programs. She volunteers and works in several arts guilds and is sought after for workshops and lectures.
Brewer's quilts have been featured in collections such as those of the African American Museum, Dallas, the State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, and The National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center, Wilberforce, Ohio. Her quilts have been exhibited internationally via the "Art in Embassies" program of the U.S. Department of State.{{cite web|url=http://art.state.gov/ArtistDetail.aspx?id=103916|title=Tina Williams Brewer|website=U.S. Department of State|access-date=7 March 2016}} Her quilts are displayed at the U.S. Embassy in Ghana.{{Cite news|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1575338251.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206140051/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1575338251.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 December 2017|title=Women of Excellence are the Living Legacy|date=10 September 2008|work=New Pittsburgh Courier|access-date=30 March 2016|via=HighBeam Research}} Her work was included in that program's exhibitions in Accra (2003), Khartoum (2009), and Dhaka (2011). Brewer describes her design process as using the mandala concept. Friday, June 12, 2009, was proclaimed "Tina Willilams Brewer Day" by Pittsburgh City Council.{{Cite news|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1784412791.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206140048/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1784412791.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 December 2017|title=Guided by Ancestors, Admired by All|last=Johnson|first=Denise C.|date=17 June 2009|work=New Pittsburgh Courier|access-date=30 March 2016|via=HighBeam Research}}
Personal life
Works
The harvest, 1989
Migration blues, 1998
Formation, 2002
Rising from the thicket, 2014
#1 of this place, 2016
Whirling dance and the unconscious rhythm {{Cite news|url=http://theglassblock.com/2016/06/07/security-blanket-tina-williams-brewer/|title=Security Blanket: The Story Quilts of Tina Williams Brewer {{!}} The Glassblock|date=2016-06-07|work=The Glassblock|access-date=2017-12-05|language=en-US}}
Awards
- 2008 Award for Service to the Arts
- 2009 Volunteer in the Arts
- Lifetime Achievement Artist, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (2009){{Cite news|url=http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/fabric-artist-tina-williams-receives-one-of-the-pittsburgh-center-for-the-arts-rare-lifetime-achievement-awards/Content?oid=1342063|title=Fabric artist Tina Williams receives one of the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts' rare Lifetime Achievement Awards|last=Bullard|first=Andrea|date=11 June 2009|work=Pittsburgh City Paper|access-date=30 March 2016}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/art-architecture/2009/07/01/Award-covers-quilt-artist-Tina-Williams-Brewer-distinguished-career/stories/200907010161|title=Award Covers Quilt Artist Tina Williams Brewer Distinguished Career|last=Thomas|first=Mary|date=1 July 2009|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|access-date=30 March 2016}}
Exhibitions
Her work has been displayed in more than 50 major venues in the United States, some of which include:
- Tampa Museum of Art and Science, Tampa, FL
- Heinz Regional History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
- Evansville Museum of Arts, Evansville, IN
- African American Museum, Philadelphia, PA
- African American Museum, Dallas, TX
- Reginald Lewis Museum of African American Art in Baltimore, MD
- Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://tinawilliamsbrewer.com/ Official site]
- [https://vimeo.com/73808244 Tina Williams Brewer, Master Visual Artist] (2013 video)
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV7IjqVpc_8 Pennsylvania Folklore: Woven Together - video on textile arts that profiles Tina Williams Brewer]
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Category:People from Huntington, West Virginia
Category:Artists from Pittsburgh
Category:African-American women artists
Category:Columbus College of Art and Design alumni
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)