Jessica Tefft
Artist Bio
Jessica Tefft is an artist and professional photographer based in Winston-Salem, N.C. Tefft believes art gives her the language in which she can explore themes of trauma and healing. She also views it as a lens through which to interpret current events. She was a photojournalist in Washington, DC, and elsewhere and has exhibited and won numerous awards for her work. Photojournalism took her to Cuba, the Alaskan wilderness, and the presidential campaign trail. She assembled and edited a Pulitzer Prize entry for coverage of the D.C. sniper, a finalist in the competition. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in studio art from Wake Forest University. Tefft is the Founder & Executive Director of The Art SHAC, a creative reuse nonprofit in Winston-Salem.
Awards and Accomplishments
2020- ArtPop Street Gallery Winner
2018 -President of Artworks Gallery
2016-2018 Sawtooth School for Visual Art, board member and Vice President of Arts Marketing and Innovation
2004 – Pictures of the Year International, Award of Excellence, feature picture story; National Press Photographers Association, Best of Photojournalism: Third Place, Nature and Environment, White House News Photographers Association: award of excellence, pictorial.
2003 – White House News Photographers Association: Award of Excellence, sports feature.
2002 – Pulitzer Prize finalist, staff entry for Breaking News Photography (D.C. Sniper); White 2001- White House News Photographers Association: Award of Excellence, pictorial, feature, Insider’s Washington
2000- White House News Photographers Association: Award of Excellence, feature.
Exhibitions of Note
2022-A Leg To Stand On-solo show Artworks Gallery
2021-Women of Vision, seeing identity through the female lens, group show Salem College
2020-Planned and Curated “Myself Seeing/Seeing Myself” show with Carter G. Woodson and visiting artist Diana Greene
2019-“Thoughts and Prayers-solo show Artworks Gallery and “Built-In; Studio Director’s Exhibition” – group show Sawtooth School for Visual Art
2018-“This is Your Circus, and These Are Your Monkeys”- solo show Artworks Gallery
2017-“Magical Thinking”-solo show Artworks Gallery
Press
Eagle’s imaginative variations at Delurk; photograms and landscape paintings at Artworks
Tom Patterson, Special Correspondent, Winston-Salem Journal, Apr 13, 2019
Seventh-grade students show depth of emotions in exhibit at Sawtooth
Lisa O’Donnell, Winston-Salem Journal, Feb 2, 2020
Sawtooth takes leap into future with new digital arts classes
Lisa O’Donnell, Winston-Salem Journal, Jan 26, 2019