Sophia Dawson, born February 25, 1988, is a talented and self-motivated African American woman. She is a Brooklyn based artist who discovered her gift while painting a portrait of her father as she studied at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music, Art and Performing Arts. At that very young age of sixteen, she witnessed that her work moved and touched people from all walks of life.
Sophia soon participated in Groundswell Community Mural Project, a non-profit arts organization, as a teen volunteer. In their afterschool program she had the opportunity to direct her artistic skills towards bringing about social change through designing and creating large-scale murals. The mural projects she participated in transformed various spaces throughout the borough. Sophia took on a leadership role among her teen group and was soon asked to join Groundswell’s team of professional artists and staff where she currently works.
Sophia received her Bachelors in Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts in 2010. She has done group exhibitions in both New York and Los Angeles as well as solo exhibitions from 2009-2013 at various spaces. Her art has been featured in the Brooklyn Museum, Corridor Gallery, and the Fountain Art Fair 2013. She has also been published in Say it Loud magazine. Celebrities such as Lil’Mama and Tisha Campbell-Martin own her work in their collections. Sophia has given speeches, testimonies and lectures to youth and her peers about her experience as a young black artist and woman. In her talks, she educates on recent black history and emphasizes the importance of overcoming obstacles to achieve one’s goals. Through her art, she aims to raise awareness on the struggles of oppressed people throughout history.
At the age of twenty-five Sophia graduated from New York University with a Masters in Visual Arts Administration. She aims to start an art program that will create an atmosphere where minority youth can address, through art, the issues they face in society. Sophia is currently raising her four-year-old son and is determined to develop her career as both a Professional Artist and Administrator of the Arts.
