About the Artist
Tina Johnson is contemporary painter from Somerset County Maryland where she paints human figure doing everyday things without faces. Tina said "I want people to find themselves in my work, and to do that, I believe not giving my people faces will help them picture, who they want the painting. I want them to see who they care most about. To bring that smile to there faces. It also has a political hidden massage. If you delete the faces do that mean you are still a person?" She attended Washington High School where she graduated in 2004. While there she was a prized art student. Tina had her first child right out of high school and she gave up art and begin to work as a bank teller where she created a comfortable lifestyle for her and her child. In 2011 she went back to school where she went to War Wic Community College and Salisbury Maryland. Where Tina took up substance abuse counseling where she got her degree in Applied Human Studies. She worked as a Substance Abuse Counselor for a while and decided to continue her education. Tina applied for the Social Work Program at Salisbury University and was accepted in 2014. There she learned about activism and some of her family past learning about her grandmother's first cousin George Armwood, who was the last Lynching Victim at the start of Maryland. Tina started digging deep in the past and later joined with a local activist in Salisbury Maryland James Yamakawa speaking out for Lynching Victims and bring awareness to these horrific spectacles. This landed her on radio talk shows, local news, and open panel discussions. This also got her into a documentary directed by Will Schwartz from the Equal Justice Initiative. She also linked up with Fenix Youth Project a non-profit organization out of Salisbury Maryland that teaches youth how to use their voices to stand up for social justice.
While in her Social Work Program she had room for one more class and decides to take a drawing class. This brought her back to her love of drawing. That next semester she took a design class with Professor Rogers who talked to her about an art major. She started as a minor in art and by the end of her second year at Salisbury University she was an art major, majoring in 2D design. Tina feels in love with oil painting where she stayed and protected her craft. Her time at Salisbury University helped her not only shape her artistry but her as a person. As a working mother of 3 in college, she had to balance life, work, and her talents. After graduating in December of 2017, she became an AmeriCorps member at Salisbury University and she served at the Ward Museum of Wild Fowl Art, with Salisbury University. There she was an Educator and helped to revamp their "Pop-up Art" program to a "Drop in Art" program giving local arts a chance to not only display their work but to teach people new techniques. She then went on to become the Education and Program Coordinator at Dorchester Center for the Arts. While working with Worcester County Departmental Center to help them convert into at Art Center.
Only in her early 30's, Tina has much more to offer. Her artwork, references her American Black heritage as well as the culture now. She believes that we must pull from our past to correct our future. Tina stats "We are made up of everything. The first that came before us and the peace we want for the ones that come after us. This not only comes from our history it also comes from what we see and what we want to see. Therefore my artwork shows it all. The good, the bad and the ugly."
Tina Johnson website View Gallery
