SHOUTOUT LA
SHOUTOUT LA wants to help change the way people spend money. They’re sharing the stories of mom-and-pop shops, small businesses, independent artists and creatives ✨just like moi✨ using local community building and conversation to do so. SHOUTOUT knows that every voice matters and we shouldn’t just look to the billionaires, media elites and celebrities for inspiration. To which I say
We chatted as part of their aptly named “Shoutout Series”, and I shared a little about a lot:
Meet Tifanie White | Textile Artist + Emmy Nominated Makeup Artist
We had the good fortune of connecting with Tifanie White and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Tifanie, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
After flip flopping majors through college {because nothing fit quite right} my dad asked me think about what I liked to do just for fun. His parents had expected him to work in the medical field and though he had zero interest, he became a pharmacist… and always regretted it. He hoped my job would bring me the most joy, so work wouldn’t really feel like work to me. I’m so thankful, because it was the push in the right direction I needed. Within a week I’d enrolled in makeup academy, and packed up for Los Angeles. We agreed I’d give it a year and here I am, nearly twenty years later, now pursuing two creative paths- makeup in film and television and hand dyeing textiles in my studio.
Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My career path is at an interesting crossroads. While I’ve spent the last twenty years working in Production: loving the countless projects I’ve been part of, meeting some of my dearest friends and collecting Emmy nominations along the way, my creative energies are flowing in a new direction. Lockdown re-framed how I want to make use of my time- and that’s raising my son and pursuing my art individually (in the studio). I’m currently filming a Watergate project through October and dyeing nights and weekends- while I feel lucky to be able to burn my creative candle at both ends, it’s just not sustainable… and I don’t have the same desire to spend 70+ hours/week on set that I used to. Instead, my mind is obsessing over color and constantly thinking of new ways to capture it on fabric.
During lockdown I opened the studio, where I focus on hand dyeing/painting textiles. It began with projects I was simply curious about pursuing creatively, and developed into an intense passion that I also saw business potential for. I’m just so proud that the studio simply exists- as a creative outlet, a collaborative space, and a place of limitless potential that supports and fairly resources other artists in the process.
I’ve tried to create a process and esthetic that’s unique to me, and paint with my specific personal tastes and likings in mind. Building from two decades of experience working with color and texture in a new medium has been really fulfilling for me. When I see the work of other textile artists (check out @parrydodge) I’m inspired by and in love with the different ways we’ve found to speak in color. I think individual expression is really rad and am deeply moved by it.
{Mostly} walking away from a twenty year career as a film and television makeup feels like a bit of a leap of faith, but I’ve taken many calculated risks throughout my life. By nature I’m very determined (read: stubbornly obsessed) and am also not afraid of temporary setbacks or starting over. It’s all been pretty exciting so far. Fingers crossed please.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
While I have plenty of LA specific hangs I love (Mr. Chow, Street Food Cinema, Good Times at Davey Wayne’s)… given more than a day to kill, here are some of my SoCal musts:
The Desert:
The Korakia (Palm Springs) ☀️
Two Bunch Palms (Palm Springs) 🌴
Robolights (Palm Springs) 💡
The End Vintage Shop (Yucca Valley) 👗
Up the Coast:
The Madonna Inn (San Luis Obispo) 🎀
Firestone Grill (San Luis Obispo) 🍔
Hot Tubs in the hillside at Sycamore Mineral Springs (Avila Beach) 💧
Rancho Sisquoc + Fess Parker Wineries (Foxen Canyon Wine Trail in Los Olivos)🍷
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
A thousand people, but to keep it short and sweet: Sarah De Sa Rego for introducing me to ice dyeing, every single person who has shopped or shared about the studio, @LibertyWorthArt for teaching me to sew many moons ago, Jodi @GoodVibesCookieCo for her friendship and collabs, Emma @estormstudio for designing/building my branding and website. My son, Ellis, for giving up a lot of playtime with mom. Most of all my husband, Joel- the not so secret sauce that makes our family go. To think that he’s always by my side is my actual dreams come true.
✨ This is the full answer I gave, unfortunately not published on SHOUTOUT. They shared a totally true, albeit random gush about my husband (which I will recycle when someone interviews me about him) but it left out everybody else 🙃
Website: Tifaniewhitestudio.com
Instagram: Tifaniewhite
If you’d like to peruse the “official” interview you can do that here. Many thanks 🙌🏻 to @SuzBornArt for nominating me ❤️
All content is owned by Tifanie White | studio. Unauthorized use including reproduction, distribution, reposting, downloading and transferring is prohibited.
