Amaranthia Sepia Gittens-Jones
ART COORDINATOR, CREATIVE, MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCATE
BIRTH DATE: October 19th, 1999
Grassroots Project, Sista Creatives Rising: https://www.sistacreativesrising.com
Sista Creatives Rising Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sistacreativesrising/
EDUCATION
Vlacs Online Charter School, Concord, NH 2013-2018
Rundlett Middle School, Concord, NH 2011-2013
Beaver Meadow Middle School, Concord, NH 2008-2011
Cherry Brook Primary School, Canton, CT 2006-2008
Nishimachi International Kindergarten, Tokyo, Japan 2005-2006
PAL International School, Tokyo, Japan 2004-2005
PROGRAM SKILLSET
Procreate (1 Year Experience)
GIMP (Seven Years Experience)
Canva (Three Years Experience in Animations, Graphics, Social Media Content)
Video Editing in CapCut (Six Months), Splice (Three Years), Canva
Open & Closed Captioning & Creation of SRT files - Microsoft Stream (Eight Months), MixCaptions (Two Years), CapCut (Six Months)
SKILLSET
Virtual Event Fundraising • Skill Development • Multitasking • Instagram • Brand Identity • Attention to Detail • Art Direction • Curator • Organizational Leadership • Mental Health Advocacy • Graphic Design • Illustrations • Ink Pen Artworks • Human Rights Activism • Art Coordinator • Creative Writing • Copywriting • Digital Illustration • Drawing • Female Human Figure • Teamwork • Communication Skills • Community Outreach • Networking • Virtual Event Accessibility Coordinator • Disability Activism • Virtual Facilitator
ADDITIONAL ACCESSIBILITY SKILLS
Image Descriptions • Artwork Descriptions • Disability Accessible Jotforms (embedding image & artwork descriptions, providing accessibility examples to applicants) • Disability Accessible Video Tutorials for Applications • CamelCase (Disability Accessible Hashtags for Social Media)
EXPERIENCE
North Star Black Cooperative Fellowship Cohort Member, developed by Nexus Community Partners, October 2023 - May 2024
Art Director, Accessibility Director, Video Editor, Head of Graphic Design, Documentary Co-Director, Captioner, Curator, “Art & Mind: I Know Who I Am! Journeys of Women of Color & Femme-Expressing Creatives” A Disability Accessible Art Show, October 5th 2023
Accessibility Director, Video Editor & Graphic Designer for Sista Creatives Rising Virtual Presentation & Workshop, “A 50% Chance of Paralysis: How I Utilized Journaling As Self-Reflection During Cancer Treatment,” Boston Public Library, August 2023
Captioner and Graphic Designer for Virtual talk, “A 50% Chance of Paralysis,” Voices of Women International Women’s Day Virtual Summit, March 2023
Lead Art Show Coordinator, Curator and Call for Art Designer for original concept, “Art & Mind: Reflections of Women, Femmes and Our Mental Health During Covid”, September 2021
Artist/Collaborator for LA Mental Health Organization, The Painted Brain and their virtual art show concept “Discovering a Place for Us” for Disabled Artists, May 2021-June 2021
Lead Art Show Coordinator, Curator, and Call for Art Designer for virtual and physical BLM gallery, “This is a Movement, Not a Moment”, hosted by ARTivism Initiative and BCAWorcester, August – September 2020
Virtual Resident at Socially Distant Art, a Residency for Disabled Artists, August 2022 - Present
Art Show Coordinator graphic designer, Outreach Coordinator and Curator/Organizer for Black Guest Curators for Massachusetts grassroots collective ARTivism Initiative, May 2020- September 2020
Took Career Exploration course focused on entrepreneurship in the comic art industry on Virtual Learning Academy (VLACS), Spring 2018
Comic art assistant and character designer intern at Ataraxia Studios, August 2017- January 2018
Created logo for Seedling in the Wind Microfarm located in Vancouver, BC, Canada, Fall 2017
Studied human figure at Kimball Jenkins Art School with Sylvia Brofos 2012-2016
Librarian Assistant in the Comic Book and Manga section at Concord Public Library, Fall 2016
Took Digital Imaging (GIMP) Course on Virtual Learning Academy (VLACS) in 2016
Studied with fine artist, illustrator and international art educator Kim Roth in 2015, Kimball Jenkins Art School, Concord, NH summer 2015
Studied with water colorist and teacher Sylvia Brofos of Kimball Jenkins Art School, Concord, NH.
Studied Comics and Manga illustration with Sara Costello, Kimball Jenkins Art School, Concord, NH summer 2013
Studied with acclaimed artist Ian Torney, Intensive class for Technical aspects of the human figure, summer 2012
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
Booked for NAMI New Jersey Virtual Workshop in collaboration with disability activist & poet, Jacquese Armstrong, June 2024
Upcoming February 2024 Virtual Panelist, “Unmasking Grief: Writers Confront the Illusion of Post-Pandemic Recovery,” Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference (AWP)
Virtual Presentation for “Objects of Access” Virtual Reception, “Art & Mind: The Healing Arts & Accessibility,” Socially Distant Art Disability Residency
“Invisible Disabilities” Featured Artist & Virtual Panelist, Unbound Visual Arts, 2021
ART/WRITING
“Surviving in Isolation: The Black Mental Health Experience” ARTivism Initiative X Atac160 Art Gallery “The Postcard Project”, June 2020
“Emo Bunny” Mental Health Art Show on SquidInkArtGallery, squidinkartwork.com, June 2019 (featured in Concord Monitor, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, MissHeardMedia, Concord Insider and VLACS Newsletter)
“Mending” from “The Surviving in Isolation: the Black Mental Health Experience” series featured by The ArtShineFoundation, Virtual Mental Health Art Show, 2021
The ArtShineFoundation’s, Feminart Magazine, Winter 2021
“Mad Black Joy” Black Mental Health Docuseries by Fresno Black Girl Magic (BreakBoxThoughtCollective), Fall 2020
“Not Your Average Black Girls” BreakBoxThoughtCollective’s Ashe Magazine Volume 3, Summer 2020
“Subjugated” a piece from my series, “Surviving in Isolation: The Black Mental Health Experience”, featured in Visual Arts Virtual Show, Hosted by Black Superwoman Chronicles (BSWChronicles), Fall 2020
“Using Art Therapy to Heal: A Black 20-Year-Old’s Experience with Racial Trauma, Mental Health Magazine Allen&Houston, Volume 3, Summer 2020
The Dark Side Collective, “Surviving in Isolation…” June 2020
ART SHOWS – “I’m Proud of Who I Am”:
Video for anti-bullying project, “Do You Know Who I Am?" Teen Ink's Videos to End Bullying”, which led to the “I’m Proud of Who I Am” art show project:
Student Art Exhibit Scholastic Art and Writing Awards at Pinkerton Academy, Derry, NH Feb 2016
Concord Public Library Art show in Concord, NH. Features FoxesAndThings Etsy Store. Summer 2015
“Humanism For The 21st Century” drawing from I Am That Girl article used for SGIUSA Youth Peace Expo in Boston, MA March 2015
Student Art Exhibit Scholastic Art and Writing Awards at Pinkerton Academy, Derry, NH Feb 2015
Student Art Exhibit Scholastic Art and Writing Awards at Pinkerton Academy, Derry, NH Feb 2014
Bagel Works, Concord, NH February 4-February 28, 2014
Participated as youngest artist in Group Show Merrimack Bank, April 2014
NHTI Community College, Concord, NH, January 4- 28, 2014
Chichester Public Library, Chichester, NH Dec 1-Dec 3, 2013
Oscar Foss Public Library, Barnstead, NH Oct 2013
Student Art Exhibit Scholastic Art and Writing Awards at Pinkerton Academy, Derry, NH Feb 2013
Student Art Exhibit Scholastic Art and Writing Awards at Pinkerton Academy, Derry, NH Feb 2012
AWARDS/HONORS
North Star Black Cooperative Fellowship $1,000 funding recipient, developed by Nexus Community Partners, in support of Sista Creatives Rising, 2023-2024
Mass Cultural Council FYP24 Projects & Festivals $2,500 Grant, in support of Sista Creatives Rising’s Art & Mind Virtual Film Event, “I Know Who I Am! Journeys of Women of Color & Femme-Expressing Creatives,” 2023
The Puffin Foundation $1,500 Grant in support of Sista Creatives Rising’s Art & Mind Virtual Film Event, “I Know Who I Am! Journeys of Women of Color & Femme-Expressing Creatives,” 2023
Sponsorship granted by Dancing Queerly Boston, in support of Sista Creatives Rising’s Art & Mind Virtual Film Event, “I Know Who I Am! Journeys of Women of Color & Femme-Expressing Creatives,” 2023
Sponsorship granted by Brain Arts Org, in support of Sista Creatives Rising’s Art & Mind Virtual Film Event, “I Know Who I Am! Journeys of Women of Color & Femme-Expressing Creatives,” 2023
New Hampshire, Scholastic Gold Key for comic, “Emo Bunny: Anxiety Monster” January 2018
New Hampshire, Scholastic Gold Key for digital art, “Transformation” January 2018
New Hampshire, Scholastic Silver Key for portfolio, “Hidden Demons of Anxiety” January 2018
New Hampshire, Scholastic Silver Key for digital art, “Emo Bunny: Fashionista” January 2018
New Hampshire, Scholastic Silver Key Award for painting “Respite” January 2016
New Hampshire, Scholastic Gold Key Award for comic “Whimsy” January 2016
New Hampshire, Scholastic Gold Key Award for comic “Legend of Shintaro,” January 2014
Silver Key for illustration "Smooth Fox" Award NH Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, winter 2013
Manga Camp and Fantasy Art Camps, Kimball Jenkins School of Art, Concord, NH Summer 2013
Received full Art Scholarship at Kimball Jenkins Art School, Concord, NH Summer 2012
Featured in article "Profiles in Positive, Concord Monitor Spring 2011