Tia-Simone Gardner is a 2nd-year graduate student in the Department of Gender and Race Studies at the University of Alabama and a practicing visual artist. In 2009, she received her MFA from the University of Pennsylvania where she studied Painting as well as Interdisciplinary Practices. She has held fellowships with the University of Pennsylvania and the Whitney Museum of American Art and participated in artist residencies in New York, the Netherlands, and Stockholm, Sweden. Currently she is the Graduate Research Assistant for the Paul R. Jones Collection of American Art. Gardner does not see the academic work she has begun at the University of Alabama as separate from her creative practice. It is rather an extension of the black feminist language and aesthetics that inhabit her studio. She is from Birmingham, Alabama.
The University of Alabama, part of The University of Alabama System, is the state’s flagship university. UA shapes a better world through its teaching, research and service. With a global reputation for excellence, UA provides an inclusive, forward-thinking environment and nearly 200 degree programs on a beautiful, student-centered campus. A leader in cutting-edge research, UA advances discovery, creative inquiry and knowledge through more than 30 research centers. As the state’s largest higher education institution, UA drives economic growth in Alabama and beyond.