Today we’d like to introduce you to Tamara Payne.
Hi Tamara, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Native to Baltimore City, I am an alumnus of the Baltimore School for the Arts where I began my artist’s practices in drawing, painting, and sculpture. I grew up in a quiet Northwest Baltimore city block where the community was the center. After studying Fashion at Parsons School of Design in New York City, I returned to Baltimore to earn my BFA majoring in painting with a minor in ceramic studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).
Upon graduating, I worked as an art educator in Baltimore City Public Schools. Being raised in a community centered neighborhood I grew to have a great passion for mission work.
I have been involved in foreign missions since 2004, participating in health aid and beautification projects while painting murals in poverty-stricken communities in South Africa, The Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. I decided to pursue my community-based artmaking full-time in 2008. And in the summer of 2011, I earned my Masters of Community Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) while also completing 2 years of service for The Community Art Collaborative AmeriCorps program. I went straight into my community arts practices while also winning several awards for public art installations in Baltimore City. Later that year I would be honored as The Arts and Cultural Partnership awardee from Greater Homewood, now known today as Strong City Baltimore.
After graduating with a Community Arts degree, I continued my Community Arts practices as an independent contractor in Baltimore City Public Schools. I was honored for my mosaic work in Baltimore City in December of 2013 by Central Baltimore Partnership along with Fred Lazarus, MICA’s President since 1979. In 2014, I won several community awards along with an “Individual Artist Award” for my community mosaics funded by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. And won a second Individual Artist Award in the fall of 2022 on behalf of the City of Baltimore and Mayor Brandon Scott for her exhibition, Dear Black Girl.
I am currently working full-time as an Assistant Professor in my role as Visual Arts Coordinator at Baltimore City Community College. I continue to work on my personal work, grant writing, and art consulting. I am currently partnering with specific Baltimore City Public Schools and other neighborhood stakeholders to create opportunities for at-risk youth to witness and make art in the community.
My current work focuses on self-exploration, healing, communal practices, celebration of life, empowerment, and relationship building in neighborhoods and school communities. I am currently seeking my MFA at MICA in studio art.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Growing up I’ve faced many personal challenges, but I have always seemed to persevere. I grew to have thick skin and gained my independence early in life. Today I am thankful for those experiences. I’ve worked hard. My experiences have taught me valuable lessons and shown me the person that I want to become.
Baltimore City can be quite challenging in tackling the many needs of the community. Navigating what I do as an educator, interdisciplinary artist, activist, and Black woman has also been challenging at times. I wear many hats! Seeking funding for the initiatives that I create is always a factor. I am fortunate to have had two decades of experience in my people skills and grant writing which has assisted me in navigating community partners, community members, and my students.
Having witnessed echoes of mental health issues in others in my personal life and throughout my residencies my work has always focused on self-exploration, healing, communal practices, empowerment, and relationship-building. The challenge has been to keep myself in a healthy state of mind while I continue to assist so many others through my work.
In the last year, I have encountered great loss. As Black woman, our focus often has been on others, so I am trying my best to create more space for myself, my work, and the things that make me happy while I continue to assist others.
My work honors the memory of my mom, Shirley Elder Parker. She was an activist of her time in all that she did. I learned all of what I know because of who she was to so many others. I am proud to continue her legacy through the work of “Dear Black Girl
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a multidisciplinary artist who is an educator, curator, painter, designer, and sculptor. I am most known for my mosaic work in the community. I work with stained glass to produce colorful community mosaics, while I also use recycled materials, found objects and my most recent acquisition of work is performance art combined with curated spaces. My work has always been a constant collaboration with the community through workshops or the creative process. Each season brings new ideas. I allow people to tell their stories through my work while I tackle processing my own journey and storytelling. I am most proud of all the work that I do from season to season. It varies.
My most recent work, Dear Black Girl began as a curated space, and community conversation designed around the lives of black women. It is a collaboration of embroidered quotes, shared narratives, images, African textiles & found objects curated in a space designed to facilitate healthy conversations around being a black woman in the world. It affords viewers with diverse opportunities to witness the journey. These spaces are intended to share wisdom, serve as a space of healing for other black women, and most importantly honor black women and their processes. My artistic processes are always determined by my instinctual responses to what matters to me in every season.
Dear Black Girl – Sewing Seeds, is on display now and is an installation honoring the insight and wisdom passed on by our ancestors and our spiritual mothers here on this earth. Dear Black Girl varies from season to season. It’s inspired by music and other Black women. Again, I allow the women the opportunity to join in on the conversation. There are collaborations with other artists in mural art, music, song, and dance. This exhibition is intended to serve as a space of healing. In addition, the space allows diverse viewers to become a witness in our journey of celebration. In the future, figurative portrait paintings will be incorporated into the spaces.
I am constantly evolving and doing my best to think outside of the box to tell other people’s stories while also speaking my own personal truths. The fact that I am not predictable in the outcome from season to season is my superpower. My work manifests differently in every season. I feel I have taken all of what I have been doing in my practices as an artist and educator in the past and merged it all together: fashion, design, community collaboration, mission work, and more. I tend to be very meticulous in my creative process, but it affords a beautiful outcome.
My focus often is to address the needs of others. I feel I think outside of the box in how to curate that vision. Painting and curating spaces has been a passion while building a community is my purpose. All these things combined are like fire. There are many issues that I tackle in the community and through the creative process.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting.
Believe in your gifts. Opportunities are manifested through hard work. Stay true to yourself and your craft will make room for you. Never compromise your integrity in your work and performance. You do not have to bend to the world and their views on what they feel you should do. Relationships are everything. You never have to do this alone. It is not easy but hard work pays off over time.
I feel that life manifests the way that it is supposed to. I love the fact that I had to figure things out as I went along but looking back, I would have sought more advice from others in the business. Each person has their path. Do not focus on the success of others. Allow their wins to motivate you!
I am grateful. My experiences have allowed me to appreciate my work more than ever today.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bakerartist.org
- Instagram: @tamarapaynecreations
Image Credits
@vivianmariephoto
@jeff_jazzystudios
