Teju Abiola is a painter and illustrator based in Buffalo, New York who loves art history, materials, and processes. Primarily fascinated by watercolor’s fluid positionality and the intimacy of portraiture, she uses them to explore color, perception, identity, and representation from an intersectional lens. To capture and celebrate people, she extrapolates color, applies paint in fragmented ways, and highlights how pigment contrasts on white paper. The margins become frames for intimacy and color beacons for visibility.Teju was a 2018-19 Ringling Illustration Trustee Scholar and received her BFA in Illustration with a minor in Visual Development from the Ringling College of Art and Design in 2019. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Studio Art from SUNY University at Buffalo where she is a 2024 Arthur A. Schomburg Fellow. Teju is also a Senior Artist at Hallmark Cards and a Winsor & Newton Watercolour Demo Artist.Notable work includes her illustration, lettering, and writing for Hallmark Mahogany’s Uplifted & Empowered collection; contribution to the Art of Change: In Support of Black Lives book and Kickstarter alongside 100 artists and collaborators in the illustration, animation, fine arts, game, and other industries; and ongoing portraits of the advisory board and staff for the online newspaper The Emancipator, founded by Ibram X. Kendi and Bina Venkataraman.Inquiries: [email protected].