Tina Williams Brewer

Tina Williams Brewer is known for her artistic exploration of the African diasporic history and her ancestral heritage. She uses symbolism and fabrics to create story quilts that are motivated by issues focusing on family, women and children, and the spirituality of the culture. Brewer earned a bachelor of arts from Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, Ohio.

Her work is represented in the permanent collection of The State Museum of Pennsylvania, the African American Museum in Dallas, TX, the Huntington Museum of Art in Huntington WV, the United States Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan. Tina's artwork has been displayed internationally at the United States Embassy in Ghana, as well as more than 50 major venues across the United States, including Tampa Museum of Art and Science, Tampa, FL; Heinz Regional History Center, Pittsburgh, PA; African American Museum, Philadelphia, PA; Reginald Lewis Museum of African American Art in Baltimore, MD and the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Her art quilt "Knotted Ties" was displayed in Rockefeller Plaza Christie's lobby as a part of the Contemporary African Art Fair and most recently the Columbia Museum of Art in South Carolina announced that Tina Williams Brewer would be featured in a summer exhibit Stories of Grace, a survey of 45 quilts, fully divulging the scope and richness of her deeply layered, highly symbolic story quilts.

She is the recipient of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Governor's Awards for the Arts, Artist of the Year, 2018. In 2014 Brewer was named a Master Visual Artist for the Pittsburgh region and she was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts in 2009. She is a member of Fiber Arts Guild of Pittsburgh, Women of Visions, and The Pittsburgh Group, as well as an emeritus board member of Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. 

Speaking about her quilts Tina states "through my work I tell a story, carrying messages from ancestors. My work is a celebration of the profound joy of gathering with loved ones and the strength of spiritual connections. It is the deep pain of racism and the pathways forward, the resilience of African American families and the light that lifts them up. My intention is to give dignity to human suffering, finding rhythms that are both mind-stirring and soul-soothing." Tina is a teaching artist, predominately working with young people. She works closely with the Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media in partnership with the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts as a resident teacher. She has touched the lives of thousands of students and hundreds of educators over many years.