Biography

Tiffany Wollman is a contemporary Métis artist living in Calgary. She grew up on an acreage between wheat fields southeast of the city limits. First, she studied Fashion Design before travelling and accepting an invitation to study fine art at the Alberta University of the Arts, she graduated with honours in Painting.

Her maternal and paternal ancestors have always lived off the land. On her mother’s side of the family tree, her great grandparents lived near Birch Hills Saskatchewan, and before that her ancestors lived at the Métis Red River Settlement. Her great great great grandma Jane Mary Thomas was Cree and married a Scottish man. Family names are Lyons, Folster, Thomas, Harper, Pruden, and Kippling.

Motivated by a sensitivity to the passing of time and sense of responsibility to protect the land and water, Tiffany’s oil painting practice is paced between periods of productive energy and quiet reflection. Her art is animated by layers, colour, and staccato-like brushstrokes. Her mellifluous palette is suspended somewhere between the synthetic hues of coloured pencils and subdued pastel tones of the earth, simultaneously referencing the natural and artificial ingredients of representation.

Figures floating in water, dreamy landscapes, and family portraits are handled in a way to evoke the possibility of anywhere or anyone with specificity telling stories of the present and past. Her painting style has elements of impressionism mixed with a reductive, minimalist, and graphic sensibility. Her drawings utilize the ease of control of coloured pencils to develop speed and translucency in her portrayals of innocence, surrender, and desire. These drawings influence paintings and are artworks on their own.

Tiffany’s largest mural Plants and Flowers for the Blackfoot spans over 135 feet including both east and west entrances to the 64th avenue pedestrian underpass at Nose Hill Park. Consultation with the local community associations, The City of Calgary, and blessings and learnings from Blackfoot Elders was key to the success of the public art mural. She desired to share the harmonious relationship between the land and people, that all things are connected.

Over the last decade she has also trained and worked on various projects as a scenic painter on both film and in theatre. Employing many different painting methods and mediums to achieve various affects and illusions at grand scales. Most recently painting backdrops sent to The Metropolitan Opera for El Nino, Cinderella in Chicago, and the Wicked UK tour. In the film industry she was scenic painter on The Order (Prime Video) and The Last of Us (Netflix).

In 2024 she began working with Calgary Arts Development as a Public Art Project Lead. Facilitating impactful public art projects and programming, while building community relationships and supporting artists. She is currently working on the Art Bus Program, Northeast Mini Galleries Program, and Métis Project.