Tina Williams Brewer is an American quilting artist, recognized for story

quilt A quilt is a multi-layered textile, traditionally composed of two or more layers of fabric or fiber. Commonly three layers are used with a filler material. These layers traditionally include a woven cloth top, a layer of padding, batting or w ...

s about

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

history. Brewer was born in

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell County, West Virginia, Cabell and Wayne County, West Virginia, Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The County seat, seat of Cabell County, the city is located at the confluence of the Ohio River, O ...

. She graduated from the

Columbus College of Art and Design Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD) is a Private college, private art school in Columbus, Ohio. It was founded in 1879 as the Columbus Art School and is one of the oldest private art and design colleges in the United States. Located in dow ...

. Brewer started in interior design and pottery, but began quilting in 1986, feeling it was more compatible with motherhood. She is currently based in Pittsburgh, PA and has served on the boards of the

Associated Artists of Pittsburgh Associated Artists of Pittsburgh (AAP) is the oldest, and largest nonprofit visual arts membership organization in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States and the oldest continuously exhibiting visual arts organization in America. History Associate ...

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. Much of her older works focused on the

Middle Passage The Middle Passage was the stage of the Atlantic slave trade in which millions of Africans sold for enslavement were forcibly transported to the Americas as part of the triangular slave trade. Ships departed Europe for African markets with manu ...

and her ancestors arriving to America on slave ships, but she also focuses on African American contributions to history and society, such as

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

. 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. Her quilts are displayed at the U.S. Embassy in

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. 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 A mandala (, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space and as an aid ...

concept. Friday, June 12, 2009, was proclaimed "Tina Willilams Brewer Day" by Pittsburgh City Council.

Personal life

Brewer lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with her husband, John Brewer. She has two children, John Emery and Kristine, and four grandchildren.

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''

Awards

* 2008 Award for Service to the Arts * 2009 Volunteer in the Arts * Lifetime Achievement Artist,

Pittsburgh Center for the Arts The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (PCA) is a non-profit community arts campus that offers arts education programs and contemporary art exhibitions in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It also provides services and resources for artists t ...

(2009)

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

External links

Official site

Tina Williams Brewer, Master Visual Artist
(2013 video)
''Pennsylvania Folklore: Woven Together'' - video on textile arts that profiles Tina Williams Brewer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brewer, Tina Williams Living people People from Huntington, West Virginia Artists from Pittsburgh African-American women artists American quilters Columbus College of Art and Design alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American artists 21st-century African-American women artists