EMERGENT TRUTHS // IN THE STUDIO WITH TAI TINDALL

by Ayanna Najuma

Tai Tindall is a self-taught visual artist who was raised in Queens, New York. After her undergraduate work at Oral Roberts University, Tindall received a master’s degree in social work from the University of South Carolina before returning to Tulsa in 2005. Today, she is inspired by the city’s energy and credits the Black Moon Collective for providing a welcoming space for her to sharpen her artistic vision.

As a painter, Tindall works in an abstract mode but does so to engage the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit and explore subjects meaningful to her in the realms of history, human behavior, social justice, and family. For this installment of “In the Studio,” she shared with us a work in progress, Listening for the Voice of My Matriarch, dedicated to her grandmother Blanche Mays and featuring a vibrant pink that Tindall says can be read to represent female empowerment. Similarly, many of her other works pay tribute to those whose legacies inspire her.

How did your artistic journey begin?

As a child, being creative was part of who I was. Sitting down and painting was therapeutic for me. Later, I took a trip to Dallas to see a Jackson Pollock exhibition and learned about his process, how he enjoyed the freedom to move around the canvas as it lay on the ground and apply paint from different angles. The drip-pour technique, splashes and seemingly moving lines of his action paintings provided me a visually engaging experience— one that still now motivates me to ask, “Am I engaged creatively in my work? Am I truly connected to its energy and the power in my own expression?” Making sure I experience that kind of personal connection with my work has guided me toward abstract art.

Abstract art is much like jazz; there is a perfect interplay of structure and chaos. I find viewing abstract art to be a starting point for ideas, for emotions to emerge. A viewer can connect to its colors and textures and interpret the creative process for themselves. I primarily work with acrylics and prefer wood panels, which hold up very well to layering with drip-pour as well as removing layers with a sander for interesting, highly textured results. Like life, there are layers of expression that present themselves differently depending on where you are in your life. I continue to explore new mediums and materials that best serve my work.

How does your social work connect to your artistic practice?

It is an integral part of my journey. I give my clients the opportunity to tell and embrace their own stories in a safe space based on how they are processing their feelings at the time. That is my way of being of service to them. I feel the same about how my art can be interpreted or received. There are layers of exploration, and people can discover their own conclusions through that process and how they are impacted.

What other influences have been important?

My paternal grandmother, Susan Robinson Tindal, instilled in me a strong sense of awareness and pride regarding where we came from. In the summers, when I visited my grandparents in Rock Hill, South Carolina, she took me to the church she attended and reminded me of the work that my great-great-grandfather, a slave, had done in laying the foundation to build it. Those summers, I was encouraged to continue my education and found myself reading Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington. Also, a lot of my work has been influenced by poetry I’ve read.

Could you talk about your paintings inspired by Washington? As well as other series you’ve done?

The paintings in my Meditations on the Life of Booker T. Washington series each highlight character traits he exhibited on his personal journey out of slavery to becoming a renowned educator and leader. In A Flame Within, orange is used to signify courage and fire, his determination to persevere against all odds. This piece reminds me of the strength of my ancestors as they endured systemic oppression—the major theme in this series.

35 City Blocks: Black Excellence in Greenwood Tulsa was conceived during the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and inspired by a John Hope Franklin speech I once heard addressing the significance of selfempowerment. The textures and layering in the first piece in this series speak to the facts about the massacre that were hidden for several years and the quest for the truth. A great deal of reflection and thought was given to what the founders of Greenwood envisioned as they saw what was predominantly flatland at the time and how their hopes and dreams would come to life.

In 2018, I visited Congo Square in New Orleans’ Armstrong Park. It is a place where people of color, enslaved and free, gathered to dance, worship and buy and sell goods. With the Congo Square series, I want to communicate the spirit of that place. My use of blue signifies water, an ocean crossed on slave ships, as well as rivers crossed or followed in search of freedom.

Yellow represents the light of love, community, and the spirituality of the African American experience. My color choices are often intuitive—again, I’m always looking for what keeps me engaged. I am always looking for complex moving and dancing lines, but these can be calming as well.

The University of Tulsa’s School of Art, Design, and Art History creates opportunities for students to apply what they are learning in the classroom through meaningful hands-on experiences. Last fall, undergraduate students curated the exhibition Hogue 125 Original: Sinister Beauty, which showed 8 decades of work by the renowned artist Alexandre Hogue and launched a series of events to celebrate what would be Hogue’s 125th birthday. This spring semester, a companion exhibition titled Hogue 125 Inspired: Oklahoma Landscapes ran January 19 through March 9, 2023. The exhibition, conceived of and juried by graduate students, includes the work of 25 artists who explore physical and

AYANNA NAJUMA is an award-winning journalist, art advisor, curator and public arts professional who has also been a public relations specialist for over 30 years. Her writing has appeared locally and nationally. She has been a civil rights activist since the age of seven when she sat-in with a group of children at Katz Drug Store in Oklahoma City in 1958, two years before the sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina. She speaks around the country on race and culture issues and those that impact women and minorities.

In both exhibitions, students realized different aspects of mounting an exhibition, such as programming, promotion, registration, and interpretation. Their work included examining archival documents in the university’s Special Collections, selecting works for inclusion in the exhibitions, writing didactic labels, crafting promotional statements, determining the gallery layout, and creating engaging programming. These types of mentored experiential learning are one of the reasons why the School of Art, Design, and Art History has a 100% career outcomes rate for 2020–2021.