Tiffany Wyse-Fisher

Bio

Before joining the faculty at Goshen College in 2024, Tiffany was an art educator, ceramicist, jewelry maker, and professional photographer for 20 years, most of which were spent in central Illinois. Her teaching experience ranges from teaching art in middle school, high school, and college, to training young adults at a peace and reconciliation center in Northern Ireland. In 2002 she received a B.A. in art education with a focus in darkroom photography from Goshen College under the guidance of Marvin Bartel and an M.F.A. in fine art photography from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco in 2009 where she focused in photo manipulation and was introduced to the backlit transparency.

Tiffany’s work has taken on many forms and includes an exploration of media. She attributes this to her years as an art educator, which have fostered the inspiration and freedom to explore many resources and themes. Her desires to design, create, and build have carried her through a life that up until now has never been boring.

Tiffany is inspired by the gift of being fully human – the experiences engulfed on nature trails, city subways, high school sports bleachers, and her parents’ laughter. She wants to make the mundane weird and for years has found inspiration from artists such as Cindy Sherman, Jeff Wall, and René Magritte. She describes herself as a homebody traveler, nervous adventurer, professional amateur, and social introvert.

She lives in Goshen with her husband Dustin and three teenage sons.

Artist Statement

“Darkness will always try to extinguish the light. The light will always try to repress the darkness.” -Morgan Rhodes, Rebel Spring

I was scared of the dark as a child. I have woken up with the sun since the beginning of time, but in the unavoidable darkness of night I slept with a nightlight well into elementary school. The tiny source filled my room with warm dim light next to my open bedroom door that allowed me to see the shadows of my brothers across the hall and know I was safe. But with the comfort of light came long shadows and dark corners – places I knew were harmless during the daytime, but seemed ominous from the safety of my bed. Mornings were a respite from the dark, but still filled with varying ratios of light and shadow. The rays of light that glared across our kitchen table as I loaded up my bowl with cereal would warm my skin and remind me that I was home. The sparkling rays of the evening sun across our living room mesmerized me – filled with dust particles that floated through the light – dancing and endless.

The manipulation of light is a wondrous thing. The way it travels, bends, bounces, and creates imagery will forever draw me in. Light and shadow give us textures and forms. Even color wouldn’t exist without the two. But which belongs to the other? Do shadows only exist because of the light, or is light pushing back against the darkness of a shadow that was already there?

My work explores a relationship between illumination, reflection, refraction, and perception. Through backlit photographs of mirrored images I am inviting viewers to step into a space where reality folds into itself and there is a tension between reality and the surreal.

Website: twysefisher.com/artist-maker/

Instagram: @gcartprof_wyfi