For artist Tiffani Wetherbee, a canvas is never just a surface. It is a site of excavation — built up with acrylic, oil pastels, charcoal, plaster, and spray paint until the image carries the full weight of the moment that inspired it.
Wetherbee, a self-taught mixed-media painter based in the Pacific Northwest, has quietly assembled a body of work that spans the intimate and the monumental. Her paintings range from large-scale 60-by-60-inch compositions to more focused works, each rooted in what she describes as "close observation — of people, places, and the often-overlooked details of daily life."
Her gallery includes pieces such as Onijo Obinrin (Dancers), a 2023 acrylic, oil pastel, and charcoal work on canvas measuring 48 by 60 inches, and the 2024 piece Things Fall Apart, a mixed-media work that layers acrylic, oil pastels, and charcoal into a composition that feels both fragile and forceful. A newer work, Tailsman Azul, stretches 72 by 56 inches — among her largest to date.
What sets Wetherbee apart from many of her contemporaries is the depth of lived experience behind her imagery. Having resided in West Africa, Mexico, and Europe, she brings a distinctly cross-cultural lens to subjects drawn from urban grit and natural rhythm alike.
"Art is the thread between memory and meaning — a way of witnessing and weaving the world," Wetherbee has written of her practice.
Her work is currently available through her official gallery at tiffaniwetherbee.com, where she also accepts inquiries for representation and acquisition.