Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Timothea Biermann. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Timothea, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
About 2 years ago, I decided to start an art collective. At the time, I was teaching professional development classes to other art teachers employed by Denver Public Schools. Several of us art teachers began the Chameleon Collective to collaboratively create, critique, exhibit and sell art. As educators, we are overworked and don’t always have time to create our own art. The collective is a way for us to safely explore our own artistic practices, and it provides an outlet for us to have identities beyond educators. I have been teaching art for 24 years. Teaching public education is strenuous, to say the least. Participating in an art collective has opened time and space for my colleagues and I to be professional, collaborative artists. We took, and are still taking, creative risks to expand our artistic practice in a collaborative forum. The collective has inspired me to prolifically create, exhibit and sell my art.
Timothea, 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?
I am a teaching artist who has spent more time teaching than creating artwork. I became invested in my own studio practice the past 2 years after I established a better work/life balance. After I earned a BFA degree in ceramics in 1998 from Maine College of Art & Design, I unexpectedly began teaching high school art, which I enjoyed. I have continued to teach public school for the past 24 years. In 2011, I earned an MA in painting from Savannah College of Art & Design. Recently, I began screen printing and creating large scale abstract paintings. I am exhibiting and selling my art in the Denver Metro Area and hope to increase my exposure in our local art scenes. I am proud of establishing the Chameleon Art Collective for teaching artists, focusing on my own studio practice, and fulfilling artistic goals I have set aside while teaching. I create cavalier style silkscreen prints, mainly about my 2 black cats and my vinyl collection. I have facilitated several community murals, both ceramic tile and painted, over the past 20 24 years, My collective and I are available to create commissioned murals. Our website is chameleon-collective.com
How did you build your audience on social media?
Promoting artwork on social media is a necessary chore. For myself and my collective, I try to post 2-3 times per week. I learned to create Insta rollouts. I spend a few hours gathering content including pictures, videos, text and hashtags in a document. Once I have 10 or so prepared posts, I will post them every few days. I created a hashtag list to use for posts. I copy & paste it whenever I make a post. Preparing ahead of time relieves the pressure of coming up with new posts on the spot.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My goals are to joyfully create art that I love, and share it with others. I want to exhibit and sell my art, and try to make a viable living doing so. I want to help other teaching artists carve out time to create and fulfill our artistic goals together. I hope to have a solo show in the next year or so.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://chameleon-collective.com/home-2/the-artists/timothea-biermann/
- Instagram: @ms.biermann & @chameleon.art.collective
Image Credits
Timothea Biermann