The Blough-Weis Library is currently displaying the exhibition titled “To Be Loved by an Artist Is to Be Immortalized” by Tiffani Total. Total is a senior creative writing major with a minor in psychology at Susquehanna. When she is not pursuing her studies or creating art, Total also works as the Public Relations chair for Susquehanna’s Slam Poetry Club.
I had the opportunity to speak with Total about her exhibition, her art process, and about what she hopes her exhibition will inspire.
Total’s Art Journey: The Beginnings
Total explained that although she is a creative writing major, she considers herself a visual artist above all. In her sophomore year, a friend encouraged her to sell her work. Although hesitant, Total debuted her artwork at the Queer Arts Success Fair in 2024. She recounted that she was surprised by how many people bought her pieces, but it was the push she needed to take her art more seriously.
As she sold more of her work on campus, she began to take her art outside of Susquehanna’s bubble. She brought her art to Mondragon, a local bookstore in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. There, she had the opportunity to display and sell her prints, reaching a brand-new audience. Her work is still sold there today.
Total’s Art Journey: Now
I asked Total if she had a specific process she would follow when she created her pieces. She responded by explaining that her first step is to always grab her sketchbook. “I heard somewhere that the best way to learn how to draw, especially learning how to draw humans, is to study from life. So, I go out, I grab my sketchbook, my pencils, or whatever, and I just draw the people around me.”
When working on a more developed project, Total’s first step is to find reference photos. Then, she decides what medium she wants to use. Her next step is to create a messy sketch of what she is creating. Total will begin her sketch with a light color and then trace it multiple times with a darker color to define the details. After this, she will add her colors or apply different techniques and effects.
Total has a particular affinity for drawing people. She explains that when drawing someone, you simply must break down the person into shapes.
“We’re all just made of shapes,” Total said. “Like our legs and our thighs are like triangles, kind of like a sail. Our shoulders-just a triangle. We’re all just basically made up of triangles and I think that’s beautiful.
The Exhibition
The theme of Total’s exhibition is “To Be Loved by an Artist Is to Be Immortalized.” This quote has been recorded in many different ways and can be found all over the internet. While the message itself is simple, different interpretations of the quote can be found everywhere, and can be tailored to individual presentations.
For Total, this quote is an embodiment of how she uses art.
“Art is so deeply ingrained in me,” explains Total. “It’s one of my love languages almost.” She continued by explaining how she uses her art to convey her thoughts and feelings about people.
“In the collection,” she continued, “there are drawings of people…All the drawings in there span from my freshman year here to now my senior year. And there are drawings in there that are related to, or that are of people I know longer speak to for one reason or another.”
When asked about her decision to keep these people in her artwork, and to then explicitly add them to her exhibition, Total explained that “at the end of the day, they were a part of my life. In some ways, they still are. And at one point I did love them, and I did care deeply for them. So, I saw this to not only honor that memory or honor that friendship, but also to move on from it.”
Many of Total’s works that are showcased are collages. Some of Total’s favorite artworks are collages, and she described how she likes to incorporate keepsakes into her art to tell the story of different moments and experiences she has had.
“Life is just a bunch of stuff you keep in a box,” Total explained. “And to put it together is to try and make sense of it. And I think those collage pieces are me trying to make sense of my life.”
Total’s Impact
When I asked Total what she wanted people to take away from her exhibition, she had to take a moment to think. Finally, Total explained how the meaning differs between each piece. “When I draw for myself and when I show it to different people,” Total said, “my goal when I show somebody a picture I drew of them is for just to make them smile.”
“There are also times when I draw for change,” Total continued. “I drew pieces that were inspired by Palestinian revolutionaries. There’s one I made sure to hang in the middle of Scholarly [Grounds] that shows an image of a child wrapped in a keffiyeh. And with those types of images, I want people to kind of step out of themselves and realize that there are other things going on.”
“I want people to come away with this with a feeling of we’re all human,” Total said, bringing both meanings together. “I just want people to come away feeling more human and more grounded.”
Being human is what connects us all. “To Be Loved by an Artist Is to Be Immortalized” is a physical representation of Total’s experiences with people. She hopes that as you look at her pieces, you can feel connected to the people reflected in them and perhaps look past yourself.
Check out Total’s exhibition today!
Madeline Davis (’28) is a sophomore at Susquehanna University. She is a Marketing and Advertising & Public Relations dual major. In addition to her marketing work at the Blough-Weis Library, Madeline serves as the Public Relations manager for Susquehanna’s Best Buddies chapter and as an editor for Ginkgo Magazine. Outside of school, she enjoys reading, writing, and antiquing with friends.
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