While great artists often come from unepected places, few would anticpate that an East Meck art teacher would be so great as to have her work displayed in Times Square.
Tina Vincent has taught Visual Arts and AP Stuido Drawing at East since 2021. Her students know her best for her teaching, but it’s far from the only thing she does all day. When she’s not teaching, Vincent is waking up at 3 a.m to get as much time to practice her art as possible.
She doesn’t just do this for the sake of getting better at her hobby. Outside of the classroom, Vincent is a professional artist that sells her work for a profit and competes in art competitions against hundreds of other submissions.
“I love working with my kids,” Vincent said. “The students here are my favorite thing. But I also like doing my art because it helps me to make supplemental income.”
Her long list of accomplishments includes numerous awards from competitive shows, running an Esty shop where she sells her art, appearing on the Zim Ladies Roundtable podcast and having her art displayed in multiple art galleries. But she didn’t see this success overnight.
Vincent’s journey with art started at a young age. She was raised in Zimbabwe under parents that wanted her to spend her time reading and studying. Vincent never found reading to be all that stimulating, though, so she would spend that time drawing instead.
At 18-year-old, she moved to America to attend Lander University and earned a Bachelors in Visual Arts and later a Masters in Art Education. When sher moved from South Carolina to Charlotte, she started learning how to sculpt as part of a teaching job in Rock Hill and soon made her first art sales.
Today her Esty shop offers a variety of products, including paintings, prints and sweater, all of which are either made by Vincent or feature her original designs. But her most popular products are easily her women of color statues. These papier-mache figures were the first thing Vincent ever started selling for a profit.
“They represent womens’ bodies,” Vincent said. “Curvy bodies, which is not exactly what society has pushed in the past, but they are supposed to look like real women that we see. Out aunties, moms, all the ladies that we actually see in everyday life, who usually aren’t portrayed in art or pictues. But what I love abut them is that they’re unmistakably large and yet everybody loves them.”
Vincent has seen quite a lot of success from just her women of color. She eventually got so many orders that she had to start raising prices. They now range from $60 all the way to $2000.
One of her greatest accomplishments is being featured in ArtPop Streets Gallery’s 2023 Cities Program. ArtPop is an organization that showcases local artists and gives them resources to help grow their careers. Out of 200 artists who entered the Cities Program, Vincent was one of 20 chosen to have her work displayed in Times Square and on Billboards all across Charlotte.
“I feel like it was a wake up call,” Vincent said. “I suddenly realized, ‘hey, you can do this.’ I feel like sometimes it takes for someone to say, ‘hey, what you’re doing is great,’ and then it made me feel like I could do it. I just needed to put in the effort and get my work out there.”
With all the personal success she’s seen, it’s easy to forget that Vincent spends most of her time as a teacher. However, she’s made sure to take what she’s learned and use it to elevate her students.
Vincent regualrly enters her students’ work
into competitions, which has led to many of them winning awards and being featured in art galleries. She also famously encourages her students to venture outside their comfort zone.
Before making her women of color, Vincent was actually averse to sculpting. Now seeing how far she’s come with it, she wants others to delve into art as much as possible.
“Keep practicing, keep trying even if you don’t get something,” Vincent said. “I’ve applied to things and I don’t always get selected. Just keep believing in the things you’re doing.”
