We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tiffany Wilson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Tiffany , so excited to have you with us today, particularly to get your insight on a topic that comes up constantly in the community – overcoming creativity blocks. Any thoughts you can share with us?
I embrace it first and foremost and try not to fight it. I’m a big advocate on doing things that’s not related to your passion. I like going out places by myself (movies, parks, museums, restaurants/bars, roller coasters), trying a new recipe, dance, resting, re-organizing my art supplies, take a trip back home to Maryland, read a book, catch up on shows I’ve missed out on, take a walk/jog on trails, hang out with friends. Even doing random sketching in my book or on a sticky note helps out. I’m always looking up to my art peers in what they’re working on or even attending art events they’re apart of and I’m introduced to other artist as well. From there I’ve been able to overcome the creativity block.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I do have a regular Monday-Friday 9-5 job as a Front Desk Coordinator but art is a hobby/side hustle to me. I’ve been involved in the art game over 10+ years starting with illustration/drawing and merged over to painting around 2018. Painting has taught me (still teaching me) patience and toke me a while to find my own groove. I would say pop art is more of my style. I love playing around with different color palettes that I find on google and to be able to incorporate them into cartoon characters I grew up watching and still continue to watch. I’m a big kid at heart. I’ve partake in several art shows/exhibitions/galleries. I currently have work displayed in a exhibition downtown Raleigh at 311 Gallery and also preparing for a few art shows/market events that I will be apart of in a few weeks. I am also hoping to find a nice venue location for my very first solo art show.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
My qualities that were most impactful to me was being consistent, organized, and helpful to others who may need advice. My advice to folks who are creatives like myself is to practice, practice, practice. Know that its okay to take a break/rest. We’re human, not robots. Be okay with saying no if it doesn’t suit you/your brand or what you represent. Stay true to your craft/stay in your own lane. Never worry about what the next artist is doing. Focus on you and the followers/clients/fame will come.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
Finding my audience is the biggest obstacle for me. For one there really isn’t any black female artist that I can think of that’s in the same genre as me (pop art) so it’s hard to find a mentor to look up to so for the most part I really am learning on my own. I feel like pop art is currently a white male dominate role. We already have a few well known black male and female artist who dominate the other art categories such as abstract, digital, surrealism, sculpting, landscape and portrait style so I want to stay in the lane that I’m in. I deal with the backlash sometimes of people saying that painting cartoon characters is frowned upon and that I wouldn’t be getting accepted to many galleries/exhibitions like I want so people are always suggesting/telling me to go in another direction but I feel like if artist like Matt Gondek can do it, why can’t i? So for now I just tune out what people suggest I should do and navigate my own way, attending different art events in hoping I get to the right gallery owners, curators, and clients who appreciate pop art/cartoons like I do.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tiffyinks.com
- Instagram: tiffyinks
- Twitter: tiffyinks
- Other: TikTok- Tiffyinks
