We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Adana Tillman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Adana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?
My first artwork sold came very unexpectedly. I began back into my art journey was mainly therapeutic. I was in banking and needed to get back into a creative outlet. I started posting on Instagram before it became the giant that it is now. After posting one of my pieces, I received a DM asking if the piece was for sale. That became my first sale as an artist. My first collector was a friend of friend of friend. It gave me the confidence to put my work out there even more. From there, I did a booth at local church that was set up in the parking lot I had my works displayed on the table along with warm donuts to entice potential buyers! These two events happened within a few months of each other and the warm reception received over the works was unbelievable. The crowd that consumed the table was overwhelming and exhilarating.
Adana, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Adana Tillman born and raised in Akron, Ohio now based in Atlanta, GA. I am a textile/fiber artist creating contemporary quilts with a focus on figurative subject matter. In the work is a mix of found fabrics from my travels as well from my mothers’ collection. My hand dyed fabrics are used heavily in the work along with hand beading and embroidery. I am most proud of the hand elements that I deliver in the work. The care I take in dyeing the textiles to the placement of the beading is well thought out in every piece. Textiles are currently having a resurgence in the fine arts community, and it has been wonderful to get the recognition that the practice deserves.
I’ve had a lifelong involvement in the arts through my mother and my teachers. I began sewing with my mother at the ages of 5-6. I would spend afternoons watching “Bob Ross” as he painted “happy little trees”. My middle school and high school were visual arts focused and that is where I homed in on my creativity. I left the visual arts for years and returned in 2016 as a means for creative expression. From there it has been a climb from small vendor booths to now showing during Miami artweek 2024 at Untitled art fair.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I love to the see the work hanging and the viewer feels included in the work. They can see themselves or someone they know represented in the work. I focus on black bodies and the black experience. My work focuses on the beauty of the everyday rustics. Laying on the couch watching tv with your mother to friends posing after school. From the bright colors of the clothes to the self-expression in the figure’s hair, I want it to resonate with the viewer. When someone comes to me and says “this work reminds me of my friends, bother, sister” it is the highest compliment. All the subjects in my work are known to me or representative of someone I know.
I want my work to open up these sometimes-exclusive art spaces and realize that art is for everyone.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
As a society I think we can better support artists in terms of livable financial support. Accessibility of gallery spaces will both benefit the artists as well as the community. Government at the city level can do better to provide financial project opportunities for public art works. The funding for those opportunities needs to be commensurate with the workload expected.
Affordable housing as well affordable studio spaces for artists to create. Artists creating without the burden of survival breeds experimentation that leads to impactful work,
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.adanatillman.com
- Instagram: @adanatillman
Image Credits
n/a