Jewelya Coffey

Jewelya Coffey was raised in Aurora, Missouri, and later in South Carolina. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in graphic design from Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, in 2015, and worked as an illustrator and product designer for several years. Throughout this time, she continued pursuing her own artistic goals, which eventually led her to pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting and drawing.

Jewelya’s work is informed by memory, religion, trauma, childhood and life in the rural South, among many others. Her paintings have a symbolic, often dream-like quality to them, melding these disparate influences into a single, unique aesthetic.

She is a firm believer in the ability of the arts and education to empower, heal and promote empathy; upon completion of her degree, she will begin a new career as an art professor.