BIOGRAPHY
Tia Ricks is currently earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting. She is based in Atlanta, Georgia and creates artwork inspired by themes of ephemera. Her primary medium is painting and sculpture. The type of art and concepts that she focuses on combine realism with abstraction. As an artist, Ricks draws inspiration from the sentimentality of childhood and her surroundings.
resume
education
2027-2023
B.F.A. with a focus area in Painting (expected Spring 2027)
Department of Art, Columbus State University, Columbus, GA.
Skills:
Abobe Illustrator (Beginner)
Photoshop (Exposure)
Sculpture (Intermediate) wielding, woodwork, and building metal objects.
Illustration (Advanced) graphite, charcoal, figure drawing, and still life.
Oil Portrait Painting (Advanced)
Exhibitions:
2025 “Still Life Exhibition,” group exhibition, Department of Art, Columbus State University
2025 “Selected Juried Art Exhibition,” student display of selected works, Department of Art, Columbus State University
2024 “Foundations Exhibit’”, group exhibition, Department of Art, Columbus State University
2024 “Texture”, Trouble in Mind, solo exhibition, Riverside Theatre Complex, Columbus, GA
2026 “Selected Juried Art Exhibition,” group exhibition, Department of Art, Columbus State University
2026- “Between Us: Stories of the Everyday” group exhibition, Highside Gallery.
Volunteer Experience:
- 2024 Intern, Coca-Cola Space Science Center, Columbus, GA. Created decorations for the work projects and assisted staff with teaching students’ art activities.
- 2025-2024 Volunteer experience working at I Beat. A.L.L., youth center. Helping staff aid children through art and drawing (two summers).
Artist statement
Tia Ricks
Drawing from sentimentality, I take inspiration from the world around me and my immediate surroundings to invoke a sense of longing and remembrance. My approach to figurative painting is based on the idea of wistfulness and is a vital aspect of my art work. My work highlights settings from the past, drawing from themes of my childhood or the stories of those around me, giving viewers a sense of a time capsule or inciting recollection of their own personal memories.
These paintings are a visual representation of ephemerality as the figures are people from my current or past experiences. The colorful figures act as apparitions to incite recognition for a memory within an unidentified or specific timeline. I paint these figures in this style and configuration to emphasize the contrast of time and equate chronologically separate events. Mortality is a main focus in my figurative work as I place my figures in an illogical space.