College of Charleston studio arts major Tiana Whitehead (pictured) is the most recent recipient of the School of the Arts Student-Faculty Project Grant.
The grant is awarded by the SOTA Community Engagement Committee, which supports the faculty, staff and students of the School of the Arts by building strong connections within SOTA programs and the broader College of Charleston community. Through collaborative projects, creative initiatives and public-facing programs, the committee promotes artistic growth, cultural exchange and meaningful engagement that enhance the academic and creative work of the school.
Funded by the grant, Whitehead’s project was chosen for the Charleston National Parks’ participation in the National Park Service’s Artist in Park Program, which highlights how art can serve as a lens to understand and share our collective history. The program honors the legacy of artists who have documented and interpreted American stories, offering a bridge between the past and present.
“I’m hoping to learn how to work with an established organization, dive into historical archives and incorporate elements of nonfiction into my otherwise surreal storytelling,” she says in an article published by the Friends of Charleston National Parks earlier this year.
It was Susan Klein, chair of the Department of Studio Art, who first introduced Whitehead to the program and guided her through the grant-application process.
“I feel like it helped me prepare greatly for professional opportunities when I graduate,” says Whitehead, who will graduate in May.
A biology major until her junior year, Whitehead found out she’d received the grant just days before the end of the fall 2024 semester and right before her drawing final. The grant has given her not just a budget to actualize her artistic goals, but also the confidence that people believe in her and her work. It has also allowed her to stay true to her art.
“My work currently focuses on the connections between humans across cultures and how this impacts our connection to land and the earth,” says Whitehead, who takes inspiration from ancient and contemporary art alike, citing influences like SWOON, Wangechi Mutu and Frida Kahlo. Her winning project zooms in on the seven heavenly virtues – diligence, hope, temperance, chastity, humility and charity – and re-contextualizes them in a more modern society. “I hope that the project will help foster moments of meditation and peace for the viewer.”
For her part, it’s the process of creating art that brings her the most peace.
“Art, to me, has always felt like magic. I don’t think there’s a feeling close to how it feels to create for me,” she says, adding that – as soon as she steps into her studio cubby in the Simons Center – she feels transported into a world that is completely her own. One where she has the freedom and the tools to process her emotions and experiences, where she can communicate how she feels and everything gets said. “It’s the only form on communication that I completely connect with. With words, something always goes unsaid or misinterpreted. I feel like I can circumvent a lot of that by making work.”
From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 12, 2025, the public may enjoy free admission to Fort Moultrie to watch Whitehead bring her latest masterpiece to life right inside the fort.
