Today we’d like to introduce you to Adrienne Dixon.
Hi Adrienne, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve always known my path in life is the arts. As a child, I spent all of my time outside exploring the wonders of nature, building things, drawing, singing, and dancing. I have also always had a curiosity for learning about anything and everything. Although I did not have any formal training in visual art as a young kid, I was always experimenting. In high school, I started taking visual art classes. This began a serious career path to becoming a studio artist. I attended Savannah College of Art and Design for my undergraduate education and initially studied architecture before switching my major to painting. While I am very passionate about architecture, it has become a very digitized process, and my heart has always been in producing physical, tactile projects.
After earning my BFA in painting from SCAD in 2011, I was determined to make a living as a full-time artist and worked as many art-related jobs as possible. I taught classes, managed galleries, worked administrative positions, collaborated on murals, and took part in workshops, intending to learn as many relatable skills as possible and build my experience and ultimately my resume.
In 2020, with the onset of the pandemic, I felt it necessary and the right time to pursue graduate school, which had been a goal of mine since finishing my undergraduate studies. At this point, I had 9 years of graduate school program research and options in mind. I met this amazing artist in 2018 who would later become a friend and mentor, Jenny Ustick, who introduced me to the School of Art program at the University of Cincinnati, Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) and much of what the city of Cincinnati had to offer artists.
Since Completing my master’s degree in 2022, I have had a number of amazing opportunities come about, including group exhibitions at the Contemporary Arts Center in downtown Cincinnati, The Carnegie in Covington, KY, and the University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington, KY. I have also had a number of commissions for permanent collections in Lacoste, France, Los Angeles, CA, Atlanta, and Savannah, GA, Lexington; and Louisville, KY.
I am so grateful for all of the opportunities I have had and all those to come. I truly love what I do every day: teaching at the University of Cincinnati DAAP and Art Academy Cincinnati, working in the studio, and working with communities to grow creatively through collaborative processes.
My work can currently be seen on display at 21c Cincinnati through November 2023 and Northern Kentucky University through October 20, 2023.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I have certainly had a number of challenges throughout my career! When I graduated with my BFA, it was the post-2008 recession and market crash, there were very few art jobs out there, and I was living in the rural southeast United States, where there was essentially no support for artists. I spent a lot of time learning new skills, taking on commissions, and creatively marketing my skills and artwork to the people around me. When I finally moved back to my hometown in Southern Maryland and then Lexington, KY, I worked nonstop: making new work, taking on art opportunities, and networking as much as possible. When I reflect on these times, I think of this period as sewing seeds to grow into future opportunities. Those hard moments provided me with moments of learning, resiliency, and gratitude. I have found that working hard, being kind, and having faith in the universe leads to balance and success despite whatever challenges may arise.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My work explores sustainability, consumption, waste, and the impact these things have on both people and the environment. This practice includes both personal lived experience and public case studies through critical investigation and an anthropological and aesthetic lens. Viewer participation is highly encouraged in my installation work as I intend for the viewer to contemplate the power of objects/things both physically and emotionally.
My career has primarily dealt with materialistic topics and the environmental impact of these objects. In my practice currently, I am working with plant life and ecology in order to encourage discussions about the negative effects of materialism and consumption pollution. I am interested in the residues of consumption and the healing power of plants.
Themes that I am continually exploring include slow looking/slow time, based on the practice of connecting with a community by observing, listening, and physically gathering to meet their needs (based on the ideas raised in The Non-Innocence of the White Cube a Natasa Petresin-Bachelez essay on slow institutions). Additionally, my work includes aesthetics of minimalism and color theory.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
When I was studying painting at SCAD, the artist and set designer Wayne White (who worked on PeeWee’s Playhouse) visited my class, and he said something that really stuck with me: “If you can’t be the smartest person in the room always be the hardest working person in the room.” My entire life, I have struggled with dyslexia and ADHD, so when I found my passion for art, it felt as though a fire ignited in me, and I have been very driven ever since.
Another amazing artist, friend, and mentor, Carrie Patterson, would remind me whenever I was feeling stuck or frustrated that an art career is a long game. Artists like Carmen Hererra and Alice Neil are proof of this and give me hope.
To summarize, I’ve found that hard work, being kind, and a little luck lead to success in the arts.
Contact Info:
- Website: adriennedixon.com
- Instagram: @adrienne__dixon
- Other: https://www.scadartsales.com/search?q=adrienne%20dixon
Image Credits
Mothwing Photography
Wes Battoclette
Contemporary Arts Center
