Tiffany Huff graduated from Texas State University with a BFA in Studio Art and an all-level teaching certification. Tiffany has taught both high school and junior high art for the past 17 years while also working in her studio as a painter, printmaker and freelance illustrator. Inspired by southwestern landscapes and wildlife, Tiffany’s work explores expressions of flora and fauna through paintings, illustrations and screen printed vintage clothing. Her heart connection to the land of west Texas has been her inspiration for many years, holding a deep respect for the ancient wisdom of the wild.
Statement
I embarked on this series as a way to explore my love of west Texas landscapes and to study the perception of collected memories filtered through time and emotion. Moments that cannot be captured through a camera lens but must be distilled internally. Whether we are artists or not, memory defines a sense of individuality from which we build our thoughts and feelings. My practice as a landscape painter involves purposeful wanderings of the Chihuahuan desert with an undeniable feeling of reverence and passion for the arid scenery and life it holds.
Back in the studio, specific elements such as ocotillo or yucca take on symbolic, metaphoric, associative meanings, alongside explorations of color, light and form.
Authentic experiences are reinforced by an assemblage of visual, auditory, haptic and somatic material: sketches, journal entries, old postcards, polaroids, music and found natural objects such as cactus skeletons, dried creosote, spiny stems of ocotillo, rocks and bones. These materials provide an altar in my space combined with experiences and knowledge that can then be used freely to paint. The resultant paintings are carefully conceived representations and compositions in their quiet solitude that involve a selective-interpretative process. Complex color arrangements in varied hues and degrees of luminosity are used to evoke both my own collected memories and senses that unfold with the life of the mind. This series has been a way to form a deeper relationship with nature and create a more personal response.