Tim Quinn
Philadelphia, PA
Tim Quinn (he/him/his) is an avid sports lover and dedicated artist whose style is rooted in colorful grid-inspired artwork. Growing up in Pennsylvania, he looked for hobbies that he felt passionate about. It wasn’t until high school when he began drawing consistently. His mom shares that he tried other activities, but “nothing stuck like art.”
After high school, Tim’s life changed when he walked into the Center for Creative Works (CCW) art studio around 2010. CCW’s mission is to develop the creative work potential and cultural identity for people with intellectual disabilities. Seeing others with a passion for creating made Tim feel right at home. He remains one of the first artists to join the organization and still attends every week to improve his practice.
Tim enjoys the social aspect of CCW as much as he does creating. He gets to interact with friends and teaching artists, who have helped him develop and grow his art practice. Tim creates intuitively, but has distinct processes and patterns to his work. His teachers and staff at CCW share that Tim originally started making drawings with concentric lines emanating inward from the outside of the page. However, about 5 years into this, he switched to creating a combination of these kinds of lines and gridded lines, breaking up the space of the composition vertically and horizontally.
He enjoys utilizing ink, watercolor, and metallic ink pens to make his images. The watercolors sometimes create calming, pleasant backgrounds which juxtapose the crisp geometric lines that he later overlays. Tim shares that he always starts his linework on the outside and follows it inward to the center. This practice is rhythmic and creates images that are pleasing to the eye.
Tim is influenced by his surroundings, including his house, his father’s office, his neighbors and the walls of CCW studio. He often names his pieces after what’s important in his life, such as his friend’s dog. Often, Tim is working on multiple pieces at a time and it takes 1-2 months for him to complete his vision for one piece.
Tim is a huge sports fan which also motivates and inspires him. His favorite sports are golf and football. Tim is a lifelong Philadelphia Eagles fan and has a close friendship with Eagles player Jason Kelce and his wife Kylie. Growing up next door to Kylie, Tim inspired Jason to fundraise for autism and has participated in the Eagles Walk for Autism, which he is very proud of. Tim loves to golf and can drive a ball 150 yards (and straight!) every time.
Reflecting on the relationship with ArtLifting, Tim hopes to share his work with others who have not had the pleasure of seeing it yet. His dream is to have his work hanging in sports stadiums, especially the Phillies or the Eagles! For now, Tim continues to create and spend time with his community inspiring others.
