By: Jenalyz Serrata, Follow South Jersey Intern
COLLINGSWOOD, N.J. – Takiera Richardson has always done art, whether by coloring or sketching. However, in 2016, the artist became inspired to take her hobby more seriously after losing a family member to a drunk driver. She saw how much it affected her and wanted to find a way to cope with the pain.
“I think coming here, living in this artsy town, and that stuff happening to my cousin led me more to the art side of things, ” says Richardson (33).
Richardson said that her cousin came to her in a dream and told her. “You need to start painting.” After this dream, the artist went to Joann’s craft store, her go-to store for art supplies, and bought the supplies to start painting.
The South Jersey female artist mostly known as “TK,” was born and raised in Mount Holly, New Jersey, and Edgewater Park in Burlington County. The artist graduated from Burlington City High School in 2009.
She had decided not to further her education in tertiary education due to being unable to afford it and not knowing what she would study. In her early 20s, Richardson and her family moved to Collingswood where she resides, just 25 minutes from Edgewater Park.
She currently balances working at a supermarket while being a full-time artist. Richardson, however, believes this is an obstacle she is currently facing, which takes time from her doing art. Without her job at the supermarket, there would be no way of funding her art.
Richardson’s art has varied from eccentric and erotic colors to street art. She focuses more on creating paintings on her own time, such as the ones shown. While creating paintings, she is accompanied by her two cats, Simba and Shadow.
The artist sometimes feels inspired by her cats, but she also from other artists such as Chris Brown and Basquiat. Richardson thinks about “everyday life experiences” when creating paintings to have a connection with her work.
Producing such paintings can range from one day to even four months, depending on what she tries to incorporate into it. The artist doesn’t always name her pieces. “Sometimes I forget the names,” Richardson says. Most of the time, they don’t deserve a name; the artist believes that many of her pieces speak for themselves.
Despite Richardson’s love for art, she never imagined doing it as a career. The artist says she saw herself doing radio like Breakfast Club, talking about celebrities even though it doesn’t impact society. However, she would still love to try radio and incorporate hip-hop and art.
Although Richardson started painting in 2016, her journey to expanding to more extensive art, such as murals, started during COVID-19. The artist realized she had to start branching into different styles and techniques so people would notice more of her work. This thought then landed Richardson into her first solo mural in Collingswood. A small business had reached out to her to complete an indoor mural for their business. “This artsy town” made her realize how much potential she had in Collingswood compared to her hometown. The artist knew she would not be making art if she stayed in Edgewater Park.
Her process of creating a mural is innovative. Most of her methods come from social media, like TikTok, or even from her thoughts, which led her to a technique that has changed her way of creating murals in a vast space.
“I always draw it on my iPad and use it as a map,” Richardson said as a way to begin her process of creating a massive mural.
Before learning her new method, the artist used a projector to outline the mural if the space was small enough. Another technique she would use is drawing out the art with chalk on the wall; however, this led to parts of the art being different from what she had drawn on her device.
The artist now uses a method that guarantees a smoother process. After creating the image on her device, she draws symbols, numbers, or letters with chalk or spray paint across the wall where the mural would be.
“I’ll take a picture of that wall, put it on my iPad, then take what I’m drawing for the mural and put it over top of those letters,” Richardson said.
Putting the image of the wall with symbols, letters, and numbers over what she has drawn for the mural allows her to know what lines from her sketch matchup or cross a particular symbol on the wall. This ensures clarity in where everything should be placed.
Creating a mural can take one to four months, depending on the space’s size and the art’s details. Richardson’s primary focus is on the outcome of her work and usually ignores getting paid for better results. If a mural is for a good cause, the artist would prefer to do it for free. For example, she completed two murals for a school district and did it for free since the artist knew it was mainly for the students. However, her murals can range from $500 to even $10,000 when it is a paid gig.
Since then, Richardson has made more than 50 paintings and about 19 murals in the past eight years. She has expanded her artistic horizons and worked with the company Forman Mills to create a mural. The artist was also part of the Forman Mills photoshoot; you can find her picture on the homepage of their website. Richardson hopes companies like Nike will contact her for partnerships, such as creating designs for shoes and clothing.
Richardson wishes art were more mainstream. She feels this generation doesn’t value art as it did in the early 1990s and 2000s, but that doesn’t stop her from continuing her passion. The artist hopes that in the future, she will still be making art no matter the obstacles she faces.
You an check out her Instagram page at Instagram- @artyoutalking2tee (The Art Assassin).
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